Alexandria and the Olympians
by Im The Monsters Under Your Bed
Summary: Adria died when she was 12. Then again when she was 16. How many times will she die before things get normal for her and Luke? LukexOOC Caution: Romance ahead! My first story don't hate!
1. The Past

**AN: The story begins two years before Luke and Annabeth arrive at camp. This chapter is just the beginning. This is my first story so review and tell me what you think! **

I'm Adria.

My real name is Alexandria Montgomery, but I don't use that name anymore.

Why? I died seven years ago.

I didn't actually _die_. I was assumed dead after the fire. I just didn't think there was a good reason I should tell anyone I was actually alive.

I had nothing left after that day: no family, no home. I was alone.

That day was awful. Worst day of my _life_. That day was the day I found out my step mom was a monster.

I know a lot of teenagers hate their moms. I know a lot of teenagers hate having a _step mom_. Heck, I hated my step mom too! But I didn't hate her because she didn't let me go to the dance, or let me buy a short skirt. My mom wasn't mean. She was EVIL! She was an _actual_ monster!

You ever hear of the monsters in Greek myths? Like the ones Hercules and Perseus fought? Well have you ever heard of the empousa? That's what kind of monster my mom was.

My dad met her in a casino when I was about two. We lived in Las Vegas and he was a performer. He did magic tricks. That's how he had caught the eye of my _real_ mom, Hecate.

Anyways, he told me that he was performing one evening, and after the show someone knocked on his door. He opened it and one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen was standing in the doorway. He said she came backstage to get his autograph (lame) and they struck up a conversation on his outfits. They started going out, and a few months later they got married.

She had it out for me every day since. I was always getting in trouble because of things I didn't do. I wasn't allowed out of my room when my dad wasn't home because she didn't let me.

It didn't really bother me since I was so little. Now that I think about it, I actually didn't _care_. My dad was usually home during the day. He would take me swimming and biking and to the movies and to get ice cream all the time. Life was pretty good. That was, until he died.

I had come home from school once, a happy little kid skipping around and singing songs. I was in the second grade, about eight. I didn't expect anything bad to ever happen to me, but I was wrong.

I walked around the corner, turning onto Elmer Street. I noticed police cars crowded near where my house was. As I got closer I noticed they _were_ at my house. I started running. When I got to there, one of my neighbors saw me and said "Here's Alexandria! She's home!" She guided me toward one of the police men and they let me over the police line.

"W-what's going on?" I asked the man. He gave me a grave look that sent chills up my spine.

We walked toward my step mom, who was crying her eyes out. She noticed us walking over. She looked at me and smiled wickedly, her eyes flashing red. Then she went back to crying.

"Alexandria, dear, I know this might be hard for you to understand, but I need you to try your hardest." A woman in a suit told me softly. She looked me in the eyes "Your father, he… isn't alive anymore."

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"Your dad is dead," the woman told me. I was so little then I hardly understood. "You can't see him or talk to him anymore," the woman told me "He's gone." My step mom broke into a whole new wave of tears and sobs.

Gone? How could he be gone? "But his car is still in the driveway! He's still here!" I told the woman. How could she say something so silly?

The woman just gave me a stern look and said "I'm sorry." Then she walked away.

All I could do was stand there, confused.

* * *

Before he died, my dad had told my step mom that he wanted to start sending me to camp half-blood. She let me go during the summers, but made me come home during the school year. I liked that. It gave me something to do during the summers. It was just the school year that had become a problem.

Ever since my dad died nothing had ever been the same. My mom started yelling at me. Screaming even! She never actually talked to me like a human being. She treated me like an animal. Once I came through the door I had to eat, and then go straight to my room to do my homework. I ended up buying a mini fridge from my friend to keep food in my room. I was only able to go out into the world when I realized I could climb out through my window. That was what got me killed.

I had snuck out of my room on a Friday. I _really _wanted to go to the movies with my friends. I didn't even _bother_ asking my mom. I already _knew_ the answer was no. I just decided to sneak out. I left the radio on so she would think I was still in my room. It usually fooled her.

When I came back through my window I knew I was in a world of trouble.

"Alexandria Montgomery just WHERE do you think you've been?" my step mom yelled standing in my doorway with her arms crossed.

"I was at the movies," I said, "I _really_ wanted to go, and I knew you wouldn't-"

"That's no excuse! And I told you to take the trash out earlier! The whole house smells like rotten fish!"

"I took out the trash when I got home." I said calmly, "And the house doesn't smell."

"Then it must be you! Go take a shower and as soon as you get out you come straight back into your room! We need to have a serious talk!"

I was _not _in the mood for another one of her talks. I valued me hearing and I didn't like getting my ears blown out every time she lost her patients with me. "I don't smell and I don't need to take a shower!" I told her angrily, "Stop yelling at me! You're such a _monster!_"

"MONSTER?" she shrieked. Then her voice changed to a slight hiss, "Why child, I think you've finally caught on!"

I watched in horror as my step mom began to change in to something hideous. She began to grow fangs. Her skin turned as white as chalk. Her eyes glowed bright red and her hair burst into flames. Her legs both changed into something different: her left leg grew brown fur and a hoof, like a donkey leg. Her right leg turned hard and shiny brown like it was made of bronze.

"You-you're a…" Honestly, I didn't know what she was.

"I'm an empousa!" she snapped

"But why do you have a donkey-"

"Do _NOT _mention the legs!"

"You're a monster?" I asked "All this time, you've been a monster?"

"Yes stupid child! You _and _your father were too blind to see it!"

Then it hit me. "YOU KILLED HIM!"

"Yes," she sighed," He was a sweet man, very handsome, but he would have gotten in the way of my plans." She smiled," And we can't have that can we?"

I was _furious! She _killed him! It was her all along! I grabbed my sword off my desk. I could have stabbed her then and there. "What plan?" I asked.

She smiled more widely, showing off her fangs "You are destined for great things my dear. You will help decide the fate of Olympus."

"The fate of Olympus? What are you-"

"It was foretold that you would be a great fighter. I am here to test that." She bared her fangs. Her legs tensed as if she would jump at any second. I leveled my sword and stood on the balls of my feet, ready to dodge an attack. She made the first move. She leaped at me, slashing her claws as she flew toward me. I rolled out of the way just as she flew over my head. She landed on her feet

"don't run! Stand up and fight!" she lunged at me. I slashed me sword upward but she moved before I could hit her. She began to circle me, "Foolish girl! No hero has bested me in a thousand years!"

"Then let me be the first!" I picked up the lamp I kept on my desk and threw it. She tried to move but it hit her square in the forehead," AARRGG!" she yelled. She lunged again. I slashed and cut her arm, but I didn't make a deep cut. I turn and ran down the stairs. I needed more space. I couldn't keep fighting in my room.

"Come back here!" She yelled chasing me down the stairs. When I reached the bottom I turned around and stabbed my sword into her leg. She shrieked in pain but she didn't vaporize. "Why you little-" She picked up something long off of the floor. I couldn't tell what is was in the dark, but I knew I didn't want to get hit with it. She swung it and it met the flat of my blade, knocking me over. As I fell I hit my head on something hard. "Ow…" is all I could remember before I blacked out.

When I woke up the whole room smelled like gasoline. I looked around. I couldn't see much, but I could make out a figure in the corner of the room. I heard something that sounded like water spilling on the floor.

The figure set down what looked like a huge red bottle. I recognized the figure. It was my monster of a step mom. What was she doing?

I stood as quietly as I could, grabbing my sword off the floor. I pointed my sword at her and whispered a few words in Ancient Greek. A light shot out of the tip and wrapped itself around her. It was a trick I taught myself at camp.

"What? How are you doing that?" she asked as I willed the light to turn her around.

"I am Alexandria, daughter of Hecate." I said grinning.

"D-daughter of Hecate?" she stuttered, "But that can't be so! The prophecy told of a child with great power!"

"I HAVE great power! Don't you see what I'm doing?"

"But I surely assumed that you would be a child of one of the greater gods!"

"Well it serves you right for assuming things without knowing!" I willed for her to come closer to me. "You won't be around for much longer, so where is your purse? I need money to get to camp half-blood!"

"Oh please daughter of Hecate! Please spare me!" she begged.

"Your purse!" I dug my sword under her chin.

She gulped "Its in the bedroom, on the tall dresser. I told where it is now please mistress, let me go!"

I liked the way she called me mistress. I turned and walked up the stairs, leaving her wrapped in the magic light. I got the purse and came back down. I knew I couldn't keep her like that forever, but I had to ask her one more thing.

"What did you say about the fate of Olympus?" I asked her, "Tell me!"

"The hero that will turn! He will make a decision that will save or destroy Olympus! It is the great prophecy!"

"Who is the hero? Is it me?"

"No. It is a child of the three elder gods, but they haven't had a child in many years." Well that was a relief. I didn't want to destroy Olympus, and if I ever did, something _really _bad must have happened.

"Now let me go!" the empousa yelled at me. She began squirming, trying to free herself. My arm was getting really tired. I tried switching my sword hands, but she jerked around as I was switch and I dropped my sword ending the spell.

"Finally! Now I can kill you!" She lunged at me with her claws extended. I ducked and picked up my sword. I stabbed my sword upward, stabbing her in the stomach. She shrieked and burst into flames.

"Uh-oh," I said running out of the back door as the house burst into flames. _That's what she was doing,_ I realized,_ She was going to cook me alive! _

I boarded a plane to Long Island as soon as possible. They airport security thought it was pretty weird that a twelve-year-old was flying to Long Island _alone_ with no luggage. I told them I got separated from my parents and got on the wrong plane. They asked if I needed to call them but I told them I already had.

Once I got to Camp Half-Blood I told Chiron, our camp instructor, exactly what had happened.

"I see," he told me after I was done with my story, "What did she say you were destined to do?"

"She told me I was going to be a great fighter," I remembered, "She said I would help decide the fate of-" I realized what I was saying.

"Well, on with it child!" Chiron persisted. I really didn't want to say anything. I didn't want to worry him.

"She said I would help decide the fate of Olympus." I said reluctantly. "But I couldn't be the one in the prophecy! She told me it was child of elder gods. The big three."

"Yes I suppose that's true…" He said stroking his beard, "I will have to discuss this with the council. For now I think you'll just have to stay in cabin eleven."

"Aw, not cabin eleven!" I complained, "Why don't the Hecate and Nemesis and all the other gods children have their own cabins? Why do we all have to get crammed into the Hermes cabin?

"Hermes, out of all the other things he rules, is also the god of travelers and traveling. He welcomes all campers who don't have a cabin to stay in."

"But _WHY_ can't we just have our own cabins and the undetermined campers just stay there? Its completely unfair!"

"Well I'll have to tell Mr. D about your opinion."

"Like he'll care."

Chiron just smiled, "Go, and get some rest. I'll see you for dinner."

**So what do you think? Please review! Flames will be ignored but constructive criticism is appreciated :)**


	2. Arrivals

**Lines :)**

So I've been at Camp Half-Blood for two years. Chiron told me the council decided to keep me at camp until I turned 18.

I'm 14 and camp is getting _pretty_ boring. What I do in my spare time:

-sword fight

-practice my magic

-practice archery

-go to the beach

-run track

If you can do those five things every day for two years, and not get the slightest bit bored, then I admire you. I was going _completely _crazy! But then the most wonderful thing happened. _He _came to camp.

It all happened one day, on a day just like any other. For me anyway.

I was sitting on my bed in cabin eleven. I had been there long enough to earn bed privileges. Plus everyone in my cabin felt sorry for what had happened to me. I hated that, but it got me some free stuff every now and then.

So like I said, I was sitting on my bed cleaning my sword. Only two other people were in the cabin with me: Robert, son of Hermes and Janice, an undetermined camper. Robert was playing a video game and Janice was reading. I heard some yelling outside, so I went to the door to check it out.

"How many?" I heard one camper ask another as they ran to the armory.

"About thirty ," the other said. _Thirty what?_ I thought.

Suddenly a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky just beyond the tallest hill. More people began to run toward the hills with swords and spears. I grabbed my sword and ran too. I liked running, so I made it in no time.

When I got to the top I saw complete chaos. There were about thirty monsters, forty campers, and by the looks of it the campers were losing.

There were three kids that I hadn't seen before. There was a boy about my age, a girl around twelve, and there was a little girl around six or seven. The older girl looked like she was wounded. They were with a satyr who was jumping around frantically because some of the fur on his leg was on fire. A big ugly giant tried to grab at the little girl, but ended up hitting the satyr in the face and sending him flying. Slightly confused after seeing that, I rushed over to help the kids.

A huge, bat-like creature was attacking them as I came closer. I saw the little girl fall, and the boy turned his back to help her as the creature swooped down. I ran faster, dodging swings from other fights and chanting in Greek trying to conjure up some spell to protect them. Time began to slow. The monster's claws were inches away from the boy's back. I finished my spell with a:

"Ἥρων… ὁ … Ἀλεξανδρεύς!"

The monster flashed a brilliant red light. The boy turned around to see its claws begin to vaporize. Its whole body turned to sand; Then It blew away in the wind. The boy looked up at me, amazed. I'll admit even _I _was amazed at what I'd just done. But I couldn't just stand there and wonder. I rushed over to aid them.

"Hey, are you ok?" I asked them.

"We need to get Thalia into the camp! She's wounded!" The boy told me.

"Wait, where _is _Thalia?" the little girl asked. I quickly scanned the area.

"There!" I pointed to the girl I saw earlier. She was fighting two hell hounds with a spear and a shield. Her shield was _really _cool. It was big and round, with medusa's face molded into the front.

"Come on we've got to help her!" The boy ran over with the little girl at his heels. While I was trying to keep up with them I noticed some of the other monsters weren't fighting any more. They had wounded all of the other campers and they were making their way toward the girl named Thalia. _Why are they all after her?_ I wondered as I ran.

Finally I caught up with the two kids. They had stopped to fight a monster that was in their way. I was amazed at how fast they killed it. They worked together; the boy distracted it while the girl worked her way around it and killed it from behind. Before I knew it they were running again.

We stopped again when we came to a crowd of monsters. They were surrounding Thalia. Pretty soon she would be over powered. We needed to help her! I could tell the boy was thinking the same thing.

Then I got an idea. I ran up to a monster and stabbed it in the leg. It fell to its knees and howled in pain.

"Hurry, try to distract as many as you can! Lead them away from her!" I told the other kids. We all went to work stabbing and slashing. We killed off about five in no time, but there were still too many. There were at least fifteen more, and they were _big. _

Suddenly I heard someone cry out from inside the mob. Huge bolts of lightning shot out from the sky, killing all of the monsters and leaving a lot of smoke. When the smoke cleared I could see the girl lying on the floor, wounded.

I rushed over, with the girl and boy at my side. We knelt down next to her, examining her wounds. She had cuts all over her arms, a gash on her stomach and a wound on her leg.

"Quick, some one get her some Nectar and Ambrosia!" I yelled. There weren't many people around. All of them lay wounded on the floor as well. I saw Chiron on his side, trying desperately to get up. I guess it's hard to get up when you're half horse.

The girl rolled over to face us. I could see in her eyes that she was dying. "Luke… Annabeth…" the girl said softly. She smiled at them both with kind eyes.

"Please, can you sit up? We can get you some help if we-"

"No…" the girl stopped me. She looked me in the eyes, "It's too late. Promise me… that you'll take care of Luke and Annabeth for me."

"I-I promise." I said trying to smile.

"I'm holding you by your word." She said with a grin, "Just… take care of them." And with that, she died. As she died, a strange light began to shine on her. Thunder rumbled from up above. Then she began to shimmer. Something thick and round rose up around her. As it got higher, it grew branches with pine needles. It grew taller and taller until we were looking at a huge pine tree.

I gazed up at it, astounded, with tears in my eyes. I looked at the boy and the girl, Luke and Annabeth. Annabeth was crying and Luke had tears in his eyes too.

"Come on, Lets go get you guys inside." Was all I could say.

* * *

Once we got Chiron standing again and helped all of the wounded into the camp again, we went into the big house with Chiron to discuss the new campers' arrival.

"Luke," Chiron said once we all sat down, "We've been expecting you for a while."

"What do you mean?" Luke asked, clearly confused.

"Would you like some hot chocolate sweetie?" I asked Annabeth softly. She nodded. "Would you?" I asked Luke. He thought about it, then nodded too.

"Your father informed us that you were traveling with two other half-bloods, so we sent Grover to find you and bring you back." He told them as I got up to get the chocolate.

Grover, the satyr, sat in his chair looking ashamed.

"Would you like some hot chocolate too Grover?" I asked the poor satyr.

"Y-yes please," he whimpered, "In a foam cup if you don't mind."

"Not at all." Weird_…._

"Oh," Luke responded to Chiron, "My _father_."

Chiron smiled slightly, "I'm just glad you children are okay. As for your friend Thalia…"

"Yeah," I said handing everyone their hot chocolate, "What exactly happened that she turned into a tree?"

"I suspect it was a blessing from her father, Zeus." He said. "We will not know for sure until Mr. D comes back from Olympus though. It's a shame he wasn't here. He may have been able to help."

"That would be a first." I said. Chiron gave me a stern look, warning me to watch what I said. I didn't care what I said. He _wasn't_ here. What happened happened and there's nothing that could change that. And even if he was here, he probably wouldn't help anyways. I'm just stating facts.

Chiron sighed. "Alexandria, why don't you show Luke and Annabeth around camp when they're finished with their hot chocolate."

"Sure thing Chiron." He walked upstairs to attend the wounded in the infirmary.

Luke was looking at me with a thoughtful look on his face. That was pretty awkward, so I tried not to make eye contact. We sat in silence for a few more moments until Annabeth quietly said "I'm Done."

"I am too." Luke said setting his cup down on the table. I glanced over at Grover, who had finished his hot chocolate and was now eating his foam cup. _Okay, now I've seen it all._

"Come on then," I said, "I'll give you a tour"

* * *

After the tour I showed Annabeth to cabin seven, where she would be staying.

"All right Annabeth. Here's the Athena cabin. You'll be staying here. If you need help with anything, you can ask Noelle, or you can ask me. I'll be in cabin eleven, down at the end okay?" I told her.

"Okay." She smiled. She had big pretty gray eyes and curly blonde hair. Noelle showed her inside and left me and Luke standing alone. There weren't too many campers out. Most of them were in the infirmary.

"So," Luke said, "You stay in cabin eleven?"

"Yeah."

"Your dad is Hermes too?"

"No."

"Oh," He sounded confused.

I smiled reassuringly, "The Hermes cabin homes every half-blood who doesn't have a cabin to represent their parent. And the undetermined." I repeated exactly what they told me when I first showed up, four years ago.

"Ah. So… are you going to show me in or are we just going to stand here?" He said in a playful tone.

"Oh." I forgot we were still standing in front of the Athena cabin. He laughed. The way his eyes twinkled and the sun shined on his hair was so amazing, I spaced out staring at him.

"Um… hello?" he waved his hand in front of my face. I snapped back into reality.

"What? Oh! Um, this way!" I started walking to cabin eleven. I looked back and saw him still standing there, "Come on!" He shrugged and started walking with me.

That night I lay awake thinking about the strange new kid in the cabin with me, and what exactly I had done to save him.

**Remember, this is the untold story of Luke, but its my version**

Ἥρων… ὁ … Ἀλεξανδρεύς **actually means something in ancient Greek. All will be revealed in chapter three though.**

**Thank you to Microsoft word for spell check even though it doesn't know how to spell Annabeth or Thalia x]**


	3. Falling

**I have three words for you: P O V**

**So this is a few weeks later. **

Luke and I sat at the lake talking. I asked him about Annabeth and Thalia, and he asked me about my life. Of course I told him everything; there's no way I could keep it a secret. Everyone else at camp knew already. He told me how he met Thalia after he ran away from home, and they had found Annabeth a few months ago.

I didn't expect him to tell _me _everything. We've only really known each other for afew weeks. And I know Thalia had told me to take care of them and all, but we still didn't really _know_ each other. I was okay with talking to him though. I was the counselor for the Hermes cabin since I was one of the few who stayed year-round and I'd been here the longest. The Hermes cabin gets the most new campers out of all twelve cabins (eight since four of them aren't used) and you learn to get past the awkwardness of the whole thing.

He looked at me with the same thoughtful expression he always gave me. "You saved my life." He said.

"Yeah, it's no big deal. You needed help."

"But… How did you do that?" OOOOOOOOH! _Now_ I know why he keeps staring at me!

"Oh, my mom is Hecate. I have magical powers." I wiggled my fingers, making them sparkle.

"That was so amazing though! All I saw was a red flash, then I looked back and you killed that Fury from ten feet away!"

The air darkened. "Names are a powerful thing. We call them Kindly Ones here."

"Oh, sorry."

I smiled "I don't really know what I did. I was just chanting a spell, I wasn't really paying attention though. I was… it was something about saving. I remember the last few words though…" _Ἥ__ρων__…__ὁ__ … __Ἀ__λεξανδρεύ__ς_. It meant _hero of Alexandria._ Wait: _save hero of Alexandria._ What did that mean? I have a hero? That didn't make sense.

"Save Hero of Alexandria." I thought out loud.

"What?" Luke asked

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking…" I glanced up at the sky, "Come on, lets go round up cabin eleven. It's dinner time."

As soon as we made it back to our cabin the dinner signal sounded.

"Cabin eleven, fall out!" I smiled. Everyone lined up and followed me out of the door to the dining pavilion.

**Luke's POV**

At dinner I sat directly across from Adria. That's what every one called Alexandria. I liked that name.

I hadn't told anyone yet, but I was starting to _really_ like her. She wasn't just pretty; she was BEAUTIFUL! She had dark blue eyes, light brown hair, and a face I could look at for ages. Plus she had a nice body **(lol)**. And she was always nice to Annabeth and me.

I propped my head up with my arm, my elbow resting on the table. I sat there and stared at her, waiting patiently for her to notice me.

Finally she looked up from her plate, "Um… why are you staring at me?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you are really beautiful?" I asked her. There were a few snickers around the table. There were a few 'ooooo's too. Did I say something wrong?

She blushed lightly, "No." she said, "Thank you." There were a few more snickers.

"Really? No way!"

"Well, no." she looked down, "my dad told me everyday before…"

"Oh. I'm sorry." Wow Luke. Smooth. There was no laughing anymore. "Well I think you're very beautiful."

"Yeah, whatever."

"No really watch! Hey Bobby!" I called over to Robert.

"What?" he asked leaning over the table so he could see me.

"Don't you think Adria is just the most beautiful girl you've ever seen?" I asked him

He looked over at her and blushed furiously, "Yeah man, but I wasn't gonna say anything."

"See?" I looked back over to her.

"Wow, two people. I'm impressed." She grinned. I bet she was secretly enjoying this.

I stood and called out "Hey everyone, isn't Adria just the prettiest thing ever?" I was kind of hoping I would get in trouble with Mr. D or Chiron, but they were having a conversation or something.

There was a lot of whistling and agreement. She blushed so red her face was the same colour as the sauce on my pizza.

"You only like her cause she saved your skin from that kindly one!" Bertha called from the Ares table. A lot of people started laughing.

"Well other the fact that she's completely amazing, I think she's very beautiful." I said. I sat back down, trying my hardest not to blush. Now Adria was staring at _me._ I just decided to finish my dinner.

On my way to the campfire, Adria stopped me.

"What's your problem?" she asked me angrily.

"What do you mean?"

"Why were you saying that stuff during dinner?"

"I didn't mean to embarrass you or anything. I just…" My voice wavered.

"You just what?" she demanded

"I just… I really like you. I really do thing you're very pretty." Why was this harder than making a fool of myself in front of the entire camp?

"Well next time, you can just tell me." She stormed off through the crowd of campers and disappeared. I couldn't find her at the campfire.

**Adria's POV**

I walked back into my cabin making sure to close the door behind me. I was _not _in the mood for roasting marshmallow right now. Luke was being completely weird at dinner. I can't believe he did that! I would have just left, but… I… kinda liked when he called me beautiful. It's not something any random person tells you. Plus I liked him. I won't admit it to anyone, but I really liked him. I wasn't planning on telling him, but I guess I could now…

I climbed on my bed. I had the top bunk with a little window next to it. I opened the window and made a quick whistle.

My pet phoenix flew in. His name was Ambrose, which meant immortal in ancient Greek.

That was kinda funny since he's been around for thousands of years. He was given to me by mom on my thirteenth birthday. He had beautiful feathers. They were red, orange, and teal. His eyes were green. I talked to him every day. Sometimes he would bring me neat things that he would find, but once I got in trouble because he took someone's Ipod.

My half brother Noah told me that the phoenix wasn't much of a songbird, but if you could teach it a song to sing to you it was good luck. It took me a while but I finally got it to sing a few songs. The first song it ever sang was 'Walking on Sunshine'. The only reason I even picked that song was because it wouldn't sing anything else. I don't even know the lyrics to that song! Just the walking on sunshine part. It was a start though. I was currently teaching Fur Elise by Beethoven. I think classical music would be an easier song for a bird to sing.

We were about to take it from the top when there was a knock at the door.

"Um, hello? Is anyone in here?" Luke asked stepping in slowly. My bed was in the dark, since there were only two lights in the room, so I stepped down and snuck up behind him.

"You know, it would be nice if you would stop bothering me for a while." I whispered in his ear.

"Ahh!" he yelled. He turned around so quickly the next thing I know I was pinned to the wall.

"Okay, okay! I won't scare you anymore!"

He recognized me and said with a mischievous smile, "No, you won't." We stood there staring into each other's eyes for a moment. Then I sighed and said "What do want Luke?" He let me go and I hopped back on my bed.

"Nothing. I was just getting bored of singing." He jumped onto the bunk next to me. I gave him a look that said _really?_ He smiled and got off.

"Oh, come on." I said, patting the open space on my bed.

"Is that your bird?" he asked as he came up. Ambrose squawked in offence.

"My phoenix," I corrected, "yes."

"Cool, what's his name?" He tried petting him under the chin **(beak?)** but Ambrose just squawked at him again in stepped closer to me.

"Oh stop." I scolded my bird. "His name is Ambrose" I reached into the box I kept on my window sill and pulled out a gram cracker, Ambrose's favourite snack. I whistled the beginning of the song and he began singing it. When he was done I gave him the cracker and say "good boy."

Luke had been sitting there watching in amazement the whole time. I glanced up at him, "So why are you _really_ here?"

**Luke's POV**

She was _so_ amazing! Having a pet phoenix was a little strange, but everything about her was a little weird. I guess that's what I liked so much about her.

"So why are you _really_ here?" she asked me. Damn. She caught me.

Since I couldn't find her at the campfire, I figured she would probably be in here. Why did I want to see her? Well I couldn't wait until the sing-along was over because then everyone would be around, and I really wanted to talk to her. I wanted to know if she liked me. What else could she have meant by '_Well next time just tell me'_?

I wasn't really too good at this flirting thing. I mean, I was good at the flirting part, but sometimes I think I'm just too impulsive. Its my stupid ADHD I guess.

"I wanted to know… what did you mean earlier? It sounded like you liked me."

**Adria POV**

Oh great. He was smarter than I thought he was. I knew I shouldn't have told him anything! Oh well.

**Luke's POV**

She was blushing. I could tell she didn't want me here anymore. But I wasn't going to leave until I got an answer.

"Okay Luke. If you want the truth I'll tell you, but if _ever _tell anyone without my permission I'll have Ambrose peck your eyes out!"

I gulped. I figured she probably wasn't kidding. "I promise."

She sighed. She looked me straight in the eyes and said "Luke, yes. I really like you. A lot. I just didn't think I should say anything. I didn't think you were interested." _YES!_

"Well why wouldn't I be?" I said, trying to keep my cool, "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen." She smiled. I placed my hand on hers. Her hands were long and slender. It felt really nice to hold her hand.

Then that bird of hers pecked my hand. "Ow!" I said pulling my hand away.

"Scram you misbehaving feather ball!" She yelled at it. It gave me a look as if it were mocking me then flew off into the night.

She grabbed my hand again, scooting closer to me and said, "Sorry about that. He doesn't really talk to anyone but me and the satyrs."

"You can talk to it?" I asked in disbelief. Yeah, that was a stupid question but I don't care. I was just trying to talk to her.

"Yeah." She keeps leaving me hanging like that!

**Adria's POV**

_Maybe I should stop with the one word answers _I thought. It was probably showing that I wasn't interested, and the expression on his face made it look like he was thinking that.

"Well it's kind of hard to explain. My mom gave him to me as a gift last year for my birthday. I can just kind of… understand his emotions. I don't talk to him like the satyrs do."

"Oh." He said. "You said your mom is Hecate right?"

"That's right."

"Ah." He nodded. It was silent again. I was still holding his hand. We were sitting about an inch or two apart. I could fell the warmth of his body.

"Luke, do you really like me because you think I'm beautiful? Or do you like me because I saved you?" That, along with the save hero of Alexandria thing, had been bothering me all day.

"No. I don't like you just because you're beautiful or just because you saved me. It's just something about you that I really like. Nothing in particular really, but I do think you are very beautiful." He got a little closer to me as he said that. We were sitting so close we were touching, his face inches from mine.

I sighed smiling. I got closer to his face so that my lips brushed against his, "Well this is comfortable," I teased. His face was bright red. I laughed lightly.

**Luke's POV**

We were getting extremely close to each other. She was so close that her lips brushed against mine. It was getting harder and harder to think straight.

Her breath smelled like candy. I was holding back on kissing her even though I _REALLY_ wanted to. I wasn't sure what her reaction would be if I did though.

I inhaled her sweet breath again, and finally decided _Oh, what the heck._ I kissed her, prepared for her to slap me at any moment. Surprisingly she didn't though. She just pressed her lips against mine. Now my brain was beginning to melt. We sat in lip lock until finally I realized it had been a few minutes. I pulled away, lying back against the wall.

"Wow." I said. Adria just laughed, and I laughed too.

In the morning after breakfast we were both called to the big house. When we walked in Mr. D was waiting for us.

"Yes Mr. D?" Adria said. I could here the agitation in her voice.

"Don't pretend to be so innocent girl. I saw your little date last night. I believe that was breaking a few rules, and as much as I don't even care, Chiron thought it would be best if I confronted you." He responded lazily.

"Yes, it was breaking quite a few rules actually." Chiron said walking in. He stood in front of us, "I know you two are young, but I think it would best if you didn't do these things. Especially when you are completely alone like that."

"With all do respect, I think you aught to let them do what they want. If they do anything they shouldn't, they'll quickly learn the consequences and most likely won't do it again. That's the _proper_ way to discipline an adolescent." Mr. D told Chiron.

"Is _that _what this is about?" Adria asked, "That you think that we would- No way! We're too young for that!"

"Yeah, and its not like anything was going to happen anyways," I added. "It was just a kiss!"

"I know, and I trust you. But we cannot let you think that it's okay to break rules like these. They were only made for your safety." Chiron told us.

"Yes, yes your safety and what not. Just don't do it again alright? Or else I might just have to lock you one of you in the basement, or the attic with that old mummy." Mr. D said sarcastically. I wasn't so sure if he meant that or not.

"Yeah, sure. Fine." Adria said. She grabbed my hand, "Come on, were gonna be late for swords practice."

**Adria's POV**

Ugh, I Could not believe that we got in trouble for something as stupid as that! As if I was like that! I know we shouldn't have been in the cabin _alone, _but what does it matter? We both live in the same cabin anyways! That should be an excuse.

We _did_ kiss though. It was a good kiss too. I didn't expect to get any more of that any more. I, was wrong.

**Luke is kinda OOC, but they never really told you how he acted before The Lighning Thief.**


	4. Finally a little soon

**Sorry this one took so long. There have been too many parties and not enough time for writing!**

I sat up in my bed. It was a little past midnight and the room was completely dark, but I recognized the usual sound of cabin eleven sleeping. There was some snoring and some mumbles every now and then, but over all everyone was asleep.

I got down off of my bed quietly and slipped on my shoes. I slept in a t-shirt and basketball shorts, so it didn't need to change. I walked to the door, carefully stepping over the sleeping bags. Finally I made it out.

I went to the place I usually went at night: the big hearth in the commons area. I always went there when I needed someone to talk to. There had been a _lot_ bothering me lately. I didn't trust many others, even though I'd known them most of my life. Most of the people at the camp were gossipers, who will blurt anything to anyone. I trusted this person though. She was the most honest person I'd ever met.

I walked to the brazier and bowed. "Good evening lady Hestia." The fire blazed brighter for a moment. Some flames spilled down onto the grass, catching it on fire. Then the fire formed a figured: a little girl.

"Good evening Alexandria." She nodded her head to me and I sat. she sat down with me.

"How was your day?" I asked casually.

"Mine was well how was yours?"

"Oh, mine was good."

She smiled at me, "So I heard you have been with that boy who has recently arrived."

"Well I wasn't exactly _with_ him…" she raised her eyebrow. "Okay yes. Where did you hear from though?" I know she was a goddess, but she might have heard from another camper, and that would be bad.

"Just a friend." She outstretched her arm and Ambrose flew to her.

"Oh you mean the nosey rude friend." I said making a face at my bird. He chirped innocently.

"Do not blame the bird. Word of you two will get out sooner or later if you are not careful."

"Well we aren't really together exactly. It was just that one time."

She gave me an expression that sent chills down my spine. Have you ever gotten a feeling that someone knows something you don't? "Very well then. I do hope you will be careful though. What do you have today?"

I grinned. "Gummy bears." I pulled out a bag of candy. I always brought her candies. who knew a goddess wouldn't know what gummy candies were.

"Bears?" she looked a little wierded out.

"Yeah. They're only candy. They're just molded into bear shapes."

"I see. And these taste…good?"

"really good."

* * *

One great thing about Luke being in the same cabin as me was that I finally had a sword fighting partner.

Luke had great skill, but he and I had different techniques. I used the moves that I had always trained with at camp. Luke had other ones that he had taught himself.

We were an even match, and our fights could last hours. There were times when he would beat me or I would beat him, but neither of us could beat the other unless one of us was caught off guard. We decided we should teach each other our moves.

I was teaching the cabin a new move to get their opponent on the floor and I decided to use Luke as an example.

"-So when your opponent lunges you stab your sword downward and twist, like this-" I showed the class how to do it with Luke as my battle dummy. As I twisted he fell to the floor and his sword clattered out of his hand.

"Now I want you all to practice this. Pick a partner." I offered my hand to Luke and helped him up. "You ready?" I asked him

"yeah." He readied his sword. I lunged at him and he used the move almost perfectly.

"That was good. Let me see it again though" I lunged at him once more but when he moved his sword under my arm I locked elbow and made him flip over onto his back.

"Hey no fair!" he complained.

"I don't need to be fair I'm the teacher" I laughed.

"Oh yeah miss teacher?" he said getting up, "Well I got a lesson for you." He ran at me, ducking low. I tried to move out of the way but he grabbed me by the legs and slung me over his back.

"Hey what do you think you're doing? Put me down!" I yelled trying to get off.

"Nope. I told you I got a lesson." He started walking toward the canoeing lake. I saw a bunch of other campers laughing and following us. Wonderful.

"Its time you learned how to swim." Luke said as he walked to the edge of the dock.

"Luke I swear if throw me in there I'm bringing you in there with me!" I said still trying to make him let me go. He just laughed and dropped me over the edge. I screamed on the way down but I obviously knew how to swim. I swam around the dock until I was behind him. I brought me head out of the water and heard another kid say "Where did she go?" the I jumped up and grabbed Luke's ankle.

"AHH!" he screamed as he fell into the water. I started laughing so hard I think I swallowed some water.

* * *

There was one thing that I didn't like being with Luke in. Capture the flag.

"So do you have a good plan Annabeth?" I asked as we were putting on our armor. She was a really smart little girl, a true daughter of Athena.

Her eyes twinkled as she smiled, "Yeah, it's really good this time!"

**Luke's POV**

Adria and Annabeth were talking about battle plans and stuff. I liked that Annabeth was really smart and all, but sometimes they got into some seriously confusing stuff. Most of the time I just zoned them out, but this was capture the flag. I was actually _involved_ in this.

"So I have five archers on defense. They'll be sitting in the trees." Annabeth told Adria.

"What are our coordinates?" Adria asked. Annabeth drew a grip on her palm with her finger.

" 22 East, 14 South."

Adria thought about that for a moment. "You're one archer short."

"What do you mean?"

"There are six tall trees around the base. Five in the front, but what if they come from the side? You couldn't move any of the others because you would leave an opening I the front."

"We don't have any more people though. The offense and defense teams are all set up and the rest of the Apollo cabin is helping with healing."

That was true. It was Athena cabin versus Ares cabin. The Athena cabin had alliances with the Hermes and Apollo cabins. Since the Hermes cabin was so big they also had the Aphrodite cabin, giving the Ares cabin the rest. Half of the Hermes cabin was on offense with the Athena cabin and the rest were on defense. We really didn't have enough people to cover offense, but Annabeth made sure we had a good defense.

"Well maybe I could do it then." Adria offered.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. My post can be easily covered, and it doesn't bother me."

"That would be great then! Let me go tell the others!" She ran off to the rest of our team.

My job was to stop anyone who came near the flag. It was big and gray with an owl on it. Guarding the flag wasn't too hard, and I had a seven other kids with me. I decided to go see what Adria was up to. It was stupid, but I didn't expect anyone to find us. We were hidden deep in the woods under a cliff.

"Hey, you up there?" I whispered looking up a really big tree. She was _supposed _to be up there. "Adria?"

Suddenly something grabbed me by my armor and pulled me up. "No I'm just a squirrel!" she whispered angrily. The moon shone on her hair, making it glisten. "What are you doing? Go back to your post!"

"sorry I just wanted…"

"Well?" she asked

"Nevermind." I sighed. She looked like she knew what I wanted even though I didn't. We sat in silence for a long time, listening to the movements in the woods.

There was moving in the brush under us. "Shh!" she told me. She readied her bow. Her arrow had I boxing glove at the end of it.

Suddenly two kids jumped out from behind a bush with spears. She shot one with an arrow hitting one kid in the face but the other threw his spear and it caught her in the chest. She fell out of the tree with a thud.

The kid picked up his spear and aimed it at her neck. "Come on pretty, you're my prisoner now." He said. She stood and he pushed her toward the border to the other side.

I leaped out from the tree and knocked him over, "nice try, but I think you're _our _prisoner." I said. He lowered his spear. Then he glanced past me and raised his spear again.

"I don't think so." He grinned. Someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind. I turned and found a spear tip an inch from my nose. Crud.

**Adria's POV**

"Thanks a lot Luke." I told him after capture the flag was over.

"We still won," he said trying not to smile.

"Whatever." He bumped me with his elbow and I rested my head on his shoulder.

* * *

Grover wanted to talk to me one morning. He said it wasn't anything important. He just wanted to ask me something.

"So what is it?" I asked. We were sitting at the edge of the field near the trees. I sat at the trunk and he stood with his back against another tree.

"So I heard you and Luke were together now," he said with a grin.

"Don't tell me _he_ told you that." I grumbled.

"No. A little birdie told me."

"Well that little birdie and I are going to have a talk if he doesn't keep his beak shut."

He chuckled, "So it's true then? You guys are really together?"

I sighed. "Not really. I've been thinking about it but…" my voice trailed off.

"You two would make a cute couple," he laughed

"So would you and that grass over there." I stuck my tongue at him.

"No, I mean it. You guys are so much alike. You both fight really good, you both like the same things. And neither one of you had any parents. You can relate to that."

"What do you mean neither one of us had parents?"

"Well if you think about it, your dad wasn't around long-"

"No, I mean… he didn't have any parents?"

"Well you know the gods have to be fair-"

"His mom Grover."

His face darkened as if he was avoiding answering my question, "No, his mom was like yours. She didn't take much care of him." Luke never told me about his mom. I knew she was bad, but I didn't think she could be like _my_ mom.

"I'll make sure to think about it some more, okay Grover?"

He grinned again, "Okay."

**4th of July**

"Hey Annabeth!" I said as she and Luke came toward me. I was sitting on the blanket I had laid out to watch the fireworks. "Hi Luke,"

"Hi!" a happy little Annabeth said as she sat down with me. It was her first time watching camp half-blood fireworks and I'm sure she's heard of them. Luke sat down quietly on the other side of me. That wasn't really like him.

Soon afterward the fireworks started. Annabeth watched in amazement as the lights danced across the sky, but Luke still sat in silence. I always knew when he was thinking about something because he always wore the same expression.

Finally he said, "The fireworks are pretty cool huh?"

"Really cool!" Annabeth said.

"Nothing I haven't seen." I mumbled under my breath. I hate to admit it, but the fireworks were kinda boring once you've seen them seven years in a row.

"Come on, lets go." Luke whispered in my ear.

"What?"

"Come on." He motioned with his head. He stood and started walking into the woods.

I ran to catch up with him. "Where are we going."

He paused, "Somewhere."

"No really where are we going?" He just smiled and kept walking.

We walked through the woods for a while, turning here and there until we were really deep, in places I didn't recognize.

"I need you to close your eyes for me." Luke whispered.

"Okay." I shut my eyes. I didn't bother asking why. Him taking me into the woods was weird enough.

He grabbed my hand and lead the way. Finally he said "You can open them now."

When I opened my eyes I saw the most beautiful thing. There was a twenty foot waterfall with a crystal clear pool of water under it.

"Luke, it beautiful!" I said.

He smiled, "I found it a while ago. Come look, this is even cooler." He took my hand again and led me toward the waterfall. As we got closer I saw a cave behind the water. He took me into the cave.

"Theres a lantern around here somewhere…" he said looking around, "Here it is!" he lit the lantern and the whole cave sparkled. I though there was glitter on the walls until I realized that the walls were made of some kind of gem.

"Luke, where are we?" I asked in shock

"It's a secret. I don't want anyone to know where it is, but I thought I'd bring you here. I wanted to know if…"

**Luke's POV**

Man, this was really hard. I got her all the way out to my favourite place in the world, just to stutter.

"I wanted to know if… Adria, will you go out with me?" That took her by surprise. I love the expression that was on her face. The only problem was I didn't get an answer.

She kissed me! At first I thought she was going to strangle me, because she tackled me to the floor. But when she kissed me it was like landing on a cloud.

It wasn't until later that night that she finally whispered "yes" and we fell asleep.

**Shame on you if you thought something dirty was going to happen when she closed her eyes! (But high five because I probably would have too X]**

**There was probably a little too much in this chapter, but i kinda wrote this in a rush so sorry if its confusing!**

**I do plan on putting some adventure in my story so just wait ;D Please review!**


	5. A Quest

**Adria's POV**

Luke and I were inseparable. We really were very alike (But he was a little higher strung than I was).

Hardly anyone knew we were even together. We were really close, but people could easily take us for brother and sister. I admit, that was kinda messed up, but heck I didn't care. I was happy the way it was.

Everything was perfect. We would spend time at the beach together, sword fight, and go to our _secret cave._

I was starting to think life was getting better, because Luke finally got a quest.

"I heard Chiron talking to my father the other day." Luke told me while we were swimming around in the water fall.

"Oh really? And did he tell you anything?"

He blushed lightly, "Okay I was spying."

I laughed. "What were they saying?"

He paused. "A prophecy. They were talking about a prophecy and a quest."

"Really, that's great! Maybe they'll give you a quest!"

He didn't look too enthusiastic about it. "Yeah maybe."

I swam to him. "What's the matter? Is it about the prophecy?"

"…No. they didn't say too much about that."

"Oh, okay." After two whole years, I figured Luke was my hero. I really didn't know what it meant, but I did save him so I'm sure he was my hero. I was supposed to play a part in the great prophecy somehow. That worried me a little, because if I had to do with the prophecy maybe my hero did too.

He smiled at me reassuringly, "Its nothing. What time is it? Do you think we should get going now?"

I looked up at the sky. The moon hung low in the west and the sky was turning orange in the east. "Yeah I think we should go now." He kissed me on the forehead and got out of the water.

I sighed and dunked me head one more time. _Great_, I thought,

_Now I have something on my mind for the rest of the day._

_

* * *

_

For the next few weeks Luke had acted _really_ strange, like he had when he first came to camp. He was nervous and reckless. He always acted like he wanted to tell me something but his mouth wasn't working right.

Finally he told me Chiron wanted to see me in the big house for something important.

"Ah, Alexandria," Chiron said as I came in. Luke was sitting at the table trying not to look at me. Annabeth was sitting waiting for me too. "Please sit down. We have something to discuss."

I wondered what could be so important_._ "So what is it?"

"Luke has been offered a quest," Chiron told me

"That's awesome!" I said. Luke still wasn't looking at me. He got a quest! The thing he'd been training for since he came to camp! Why was he so down?

"Yes indeed. The prophecy he was given, well I think it would be best if you told her, Luke."

He took a deep breath and said:

"_One will accompany you on this quest,_

_to find a treasure in the west._

_You must take a fruit but only one,_

_shining golden in the setting sun._

_A beastly guard defends the place, _

_But only alone is how you may face."_

I thought about it for a moment. "Is that it?"

"Yes." Luke said in a low voice.

"The prophecy says that one other will accompany him. He's had plenty of time, but he cannot seem to decide." I looked over at Annabeth. When she heard he could only take one person it had _really_ caught her attention.

"Well… he can't take both of us?" Annabeth asked desperately.

"The prophecy said- "

"I know what the prophecy said, but why can't he take both of us?"

"Annabeth, prophecies tell the fates of those who go on a quest. If the prophecy foretells only two will go, _only two_ will go." I could tell by his tone that she was starting to get on his nerves.

"There's no way that's the whole prophecy." I told Luke.

"It is," he insisted. He gave me a look like _SHUT UP!_

"I think both of us should go though!" Annabeth whined.

"Yeah Chiron, we should both go." I glanced back at Luke, "Right?"

"Umm…"

"Not both of you can go. Luke has to pick one." Chiron said. He was extremely calm, meaning he was _REALLY_ mad.

"Well… I still don't know," Luke said he glanced around the room trying not to look at either of us.

"I don't have to go," I lied. I seriously wanted to go. How often do you get to travel around freely? When you're a half-blood, not very often!

"No I want you to go. But I want Annabeth to go too."

Annabeth looked back at Chiron with pleading eyes. "Are you _sure_ we can't both go? Please?"

Chiron sighed through his nose "I'm sure Annabeth."

"Luke I really don't have to go," I said. Why was I so nice?

Luke took a long pause. " Chiron, I need wisdom. I really don't know, and you're _insisting_ that only one of them can go-"

"The prophecy said-"

"So which do you think should accompany me?"

Chiron looked a little nervous. _Why _was everyone so stressed out about this quest? Gah, I feel so stupid right now!

"I think it would be best if… Annabeth, you are so young and… I just don't think its your time. Maybe next time." He was trying his hardest to be sincere.

"What? But that's not fair! Why does age matter? I want to go!" Annabeth protested.

"I just don't think this is your quest. Maybe you can go on the next one."

"But!" She looked like she could start crying.

"Chiron I don't have to go if- "

"Luke asked me and my decision is final. Do not complain to me. It is still Luke's decision."

Luke didn't look very happy with Chiron's choice. I'm pretty sure he didn't want to break Annabeth's heart but he said, "If that's what you think is wisest." Annabeth stormed out of the room. "Annabeth!" He called after her. He sighed and walked out of the room.

I sat with Chiron, thinking about the prophecy. Then I said to him, "Are you sure I should be the one to go? I mean, Annabeth _really _wanted to go. Maybe you should just let her."

Chiron looked at me as if he knew something that he couldn't tell me. "Yes child. Annabeth does not need to go on a quest just yet. She should train a little longer; then she can go. Besides, you have been here quite a while. I've been hoping you could go on a quest soon. It is not good to stay away from the world for so long."

"You're telling me."

My old instructor just smiled at me."Go, rest. You leave for the quest in four days. Just try to relax… while you can."

That last part sent shivers down my spine. I suppose all I can do is rest for now then. That, and find Annabeth. _She might not even want to talk to me, _I realized,

_Great._

_

* * *

_

The few days I had to prepare were brutal. I just couldn't keep my mind off the quest. I was so excited! I'd never been on a quest before! The only times I really ever got to see the outside world was when we took our fieldtrip to Olympus on the winter solstice.

But word of the quest soon got out.

"Hey Amia," Sunshine from the Apollo cabin called. She was with her boyfriend, Samson, from the Ares cabin.

"It's _Adria," I_ said, "What do you want?"

"So I hear that you're going on the quest with Luke."

"Yeah, so?" Like that was her business.

"I'm wondering if you're planning on coming back with… you know. Another _person_." She made circle motions in front of her stomach with her hands.

It took me a minute to catch what she was saying. "Oh, buzz of Sunshine! Just cause you're jealous! Why don't you go play with your arrows!"

"Jealous?" she fumed. I started walking away but her giggly boyfriend hit me on the shoulder with something.

"Hey, she wasn't done talking to you punk!"

I turned around and whacked him in the face with the flat of my sword (which I always keep with me) then walked off. They just stood there shocked. I couldn't help but laugh afterwards.

**Wow too short! The next few chapters will be good though I promise :)**

**Yes she does and has gotten harassed a lot about doing it with Luke, In memory of Maria Vs. Wilkenson ;]**


	6. At the mall

I woke up just before dawn. Today was the day we were supposed to leave for the quest.

I made my way through the woods to the waterfall. I knew Luke was already there, but I wasn't going to see him. I was going to see Ambrose.

"There's my pretty bird!" He chirped a happy tune as I petted the top of his head. "I'm going to miss you."

"Chirp?"

"No you can't come." He made an upset squawking sound, then pecked me affectionately on the arm and flew off.

I sighed. The sun was rising above the hills to the east. I walked into the cave and found that Luke actually wasn't there. But he wasn't in the cabin either. Where could he be? Maybe I should just go wait on half-blood hill like I'm supposed to.

When I made it to the top I found Argus waiting with his arms crossed. He raised his eyebrow asking _where's the other one. _I shrugged my shoulders and sat next to Thalia's tree.

Soon enough Luke came up the hill with Chiron.

"Late." I told him

He regarded me and said, "Where's your stuff?"

I frowned "What do you mean?"

"Your pack, your sword, anything! You don't have anything with you!"

"Oh," I grabbed the charm on my necklace that was shaped like a backpack and pulled on it. Instead of breaking it actually _turned_ _into_ a gray backpack.

I held it out for him to see. "Wow. That's cool," He marveled.

"Are you both ready to leave?" Chiron asked. We nodded and I put my backpack away. "Argus will drive you to New York but he cannot take you much farther. You will have to find a way to go west yourself."

We said goodbye to our Instructor. I saw Annabeth come up the hill slowly. She looked really sad.

"Bye Annabeth." I said to her. She probably still didn't want to talk to me.

Luke went to go talk to her. I couldn't hear what they were saying. Annabeth just nodded her head.

Once we were driving into the city Luke asked me "So where did you get your necklace from?"

"Oh, you know…." He waited for me to answer. I sighed, "I did a few favors for Hephaestus and in return he made me this necklace." I traced the details on the charms with my fingers. "So where are we headed?"

He took a long pause. Then he finally said, "San Francisco."

"You're sure?"

" 'You will take a fruit… shining golden in the setting sun'. That tells you two things: We have to find a golden fruit, and we have to be there at sunset. You can only get to Mt. Othrys at sunset. That's at Mt. Tam now, in San Francisco; which is west."

"Wow, you've had a lot of time to think about this."

He grinned, "I wanted Annabeth to feel included. And about the prophecy…"

The car stopped abruptly. "We're here already?" I asked Argus. He looked back at us and made a hand signal to Luke.

"There's an idea! Thanks Argus!" he rushed me out of the van

"What did he say?"

"Come on, we've got a plane to catch!"

**Luke's POV **

"Luke, are you sure this is a good idea?" Adria asked me as we were in line to buy the plane tickets.

"Why wouldn't this be a good idea?"

She looked around nervously, "What if there are monsters?" She sounded like a little kid who was afraid of the dark.

"Oh, come on Adria! There won't be any monsters." She still looked pretty nervous. I had a feeling that wasn't the only thing bothering her. "How much money do you have?" I asked.

She grinned wickedly, "How much do you need?" She reached into her jacket sleeve and pulled out a few hundreds.

"Whoa." First class!

Once we boarded and took off, I figured I should probably tell her about my prophecy.

"Hey Dri?"

"Dri? Really?"

I laughed "Uh, yeah I guess if it's fine with you..." She smiled. "Well … I lied about the prophecy."

She rolled her eyes, "I knew that."

"Heh, well there's another part. It was something like :

You will win the quest but fail at heart,  
and must make things right or soon depart."

She sat still for a moment. Thinking about what I had said. I didn't tell Chiron because I knew he wouldn't let me go. I don't know why I wanted to go on this stupid quest. My _dad _had picked it out. That should make me want to go on it even less! But for some reason I really wanted to go. I guess… maybe I wanted to impress him. Maybe if I was a hero he would pay more attention to me. What? That's stupid! But I just wish…

"Well… you can make thing right in the end." She was trying to be positive about this. I didn't blame her. The last line was pretty depressing.

"So what's the plan?" I asked

"Well the plane lands in Nebraska, so we can take a bus to Colorado then take the train to Nevada."

"And how do we get from Nevada to California?"

"Um…" We thought about that for a while.

"Nevermind. We can cross that bridge when we get there."

It took hours, but we made it to Nebraska without a problem. "Told you there were no monsters." I told Adria. She stuck her tongue at me but there was still an uneasy look on her face.

"The bus station is 6 miles that way" she pointed down a road. She was looking at a map that we picked up at the airport. "It's two towns over.

"So how are we getting there?"

"We walk I guess." She struck a pose pointing forward, "Onwards men!" She marched off with me following her.

We passed by a lot of abandoned farm houses and stuff. We walked about three miles until we came to a sign that read _Welcome to Always Sunny Toparka! _

I looked around. It was late afternoon but there was a lot of fog. I wondered why it was called 'always sunny'.

"Toparka? What kind of name is Toparka?" Adria said.

"I don't know. Let's just get to the bus station. The sooner we get there the sooner we get this quest over with."

She quickly glanced at me but kept walking. We were on the same two-lane road that we had been walking on since we left from the airport. It seemed really abandoned. As we kept walking we made it into town. There were grocery stores and small shops all down the road, but there were no cars on the streets or in the parking lots.

"There's a car!" She pointed to a rusty old Mercedes on the side of the road. She ran up to it and wiped the fog off the window. We peered inside.

"That's weird." I said standing back up. The inside looked brand new like no one had even driven it.

"Maybe we can take it!" She tried the door and cursed. "Locked!"

"Let's just keep moving. I've got a bad feeling about this place..." I grabbed her arm and we kept walking.

"Look! What is that? Is that a mall?"

"Stonebury mall," I read, "What's a mall doing out here in the middle of nowhere? This town seems so… old."

"Lets go check it out!" she said excitedly.

"I don't think so. We should keep moving."

"Oh, come on Luke! Do you knowhow_ long_ it's been since I've been to a mall?" She begged.

"No, we should go."

"Awwwww!" she complained. "But I'm hungry!"

"What makes you think there will be food in a mall, in the middle of a town that's in the middle of nowhere?" I shouted, my words echoing off the empty buildings around us. She gave me the googely eyes that she always gave me when Ambrose and I were fighting. "Bah! Fine but we're not staying long."

I dug my hands into my pockets and followed her through the empty parking lot and into the mall.

The automatic doors swung open as we got closer. I got a strange tingling in my spine. "Maybe it isn't such a good idea to go in here…" I warned.

"Oh, nonsense! I can just hear the stores in here calling to me!" Adria wasn't acting like herself.

We walked through mall and didn't see a single person, not even cashiers at counters in the stores. All the stores were up-to-date with merchandise and the floors looked clean and waxed. But the inside looked bigger than the outside. It was clean and brand new.

Adria was acting like a typical girl. She was gushing over every purse or pair of earrings she saw on display. She wasn't usually materialistic like this.

Finally we made it to the back of the mall. There was a department store and a perfume shop that smelled like dead flowers. That was weird.

"Look! They have _the _cutest skirt in there!" She ran into the department store faster than a jet.

"Wait! Don't go in there! We've got to-" she was already gone. "Stay together." I finished my sentence in a low grumble.

I walked into the store. This store wasn't as clean as the rest. There were clothes on the floor and broken security cameras on the ceiling.

I heard a loud _thump _and I ran in the direction. There, standing completely still was Adria.

"There you are!" I said in relief. She didn't move or speak. She didn't even blink! "Are you okay?" Still no response. She was holding her necklace in her hand.

Suddenly a gnarled hand reached out from behind a clothes rack and grabbed her arm. She still didn't show any reaction.

Then she turned to face where the wrinkled hand was coming from and said, "This is him. This is the boy I told you about." She said smiling a huge smile. She sounded dazed, like she was in a trance.

Two old ladies hobbled out from behind the clothes. They were wearing long dresses and jackets that didn't match. As they walked there was a strange noise as if something was dragging on the floor. "Hello young man." She lady on the right said in a raspy voice.

"Um, hi." I said uneasily. She was still holding onto Adria's arm. "Um, if you don't mind, we have to leave now." I tried grabbing Adria's hand but she snatched it away.

"We have to stay! I'm thirsty! They said they have water!" She was still smiling a creepy smile. She dropped her necklace but didn't seem to notice.

"Yesss, we have plenty to drink here." The lady on the left agreed.

"Come. This way" The other one said. She let go of Adria's arm and the two walked past me, careful not to step on her necklace. Adria followed. I sighed and picked up her pendant then followed. I made sure to walk next to her so as not to lose her again.

"Where is everyone?" I asked the old ladies.

"No one comess around anymore." One said

"No idea why." The other said.

We walked through the isles for what seemed like forever. We passed knocked over exercise equipment, shoes, home appliances, and finally more clothes.

"Where are we going?" I asked impatiently.

"To find you two youngssterss sssomething to drink!" The one on the left said. I tried to look past them (because they weren't the thinnest people I've ever seen) and stepped on something lumpy.

"Hey, watch it!" the lady on the left warned. I looked down and saw something green and leathery. She kicked it out of the way with her foot. "That's my… purssse! Try not to step on it will you? My reading glassssess are in there!"

"Nice snake skin purse." Adria said, still dazed.

"Nice lisp." I muttered. The other lady glanced back at me and smirked. "Are we there yet?" I asked. My patients was thinning.

"Almosst…"

We came to the kitchen section. A lot of items were missing from the shelves. There were scorch mark and holes on the floor.

"How long have you guys stayed in this mall?" I asked

"Oh, a very long time. It's so nice when we get visitors. We get lonely with no one around but each other."

"Why don't you just leave?" Adria asked.

"Why go hunt when the food just comes to you?" one lady snickered. We turned and began walking toward a large clearing with a door in the wall.

"Wait right here young oness" One lady hissed.

"We'll be right back." They walked through the door.

Suddenly Adria gasped. She looked around wildly, "Luke! Where are we? What are we doing?"

"Oh, now you come to your senses." I told her.

"These people, they're monster! We got to get out of here!"

"You're the one who wanted to come in here! What do you mean monsters?"

"How ssilly of us! Franssia, we forgot to introducce ourssselvess to the boy!" one lady shrieked to the other coming back through the door.

"We did, didn't we? Well itss better late than never!" The one named Francia hissed. They had changed their dresses. The ones they now had on was covered in big green sequins.

"Look, I don't need any introductions. We came back here for water, so just give her some water so we can go!" I didn't have time for this!

"Don't be ssso rude!" The other lady hissed.

"Patients Madrima. They will be done with in a matter of minutess." Francia raised her hand as if she was about to throw something

"Luke! Move!" Adria pushed me to the floor. A spear flew over us and impaled itself into the floor.

"Monsters?" I shouted

"Duh! I told you!" She yelled at me. Madrima took out a sword and charged at us. I tripped her with my leg and dove behind a shelf with Adria. "Can't you see them?"

I focused on the two old ladies as they tried to get their weapons out of the floor. Their images shimmered until I saw them for what they really were. Two Dracanae.

"I can't believe this!" I said.

"You see them now?"

"I can't believe you dragged me into this stupid mall!" I shouted.

"Come here children! Come be our dinner!" Francia hissed evilly. I could here her slithering toward us.

"Go hide!" I whispered to Adria. She looked hurt, but ran off through the isle anyways. I climbed up the shelf I was hiding behind.

"Come on, at leasst let us have the boy." Madrima said.

"Yesss he would make a fine meal!" Francia said

"Over Zeus's dead body!" I yelled. I leaned forward, tipping the shelf I was standing on over. It crashed to the floor with Francia under it. I drew my sword.

"You foolish boy!" Francia shrieked at me, "Let me up!"

I pointed the tip of my sword to her face, "Yeah right."

In the corner of my eye I noticed Adria with a bow and arrow. She was aiming straight for my head. "Hey don't point that at- "

She shot her arrow and I closed my eyes. My girlfriend really _has_ gone nuts! But after a moment I opened my eyes. One by one my vision came back into focus. I was alive! I looked around. Adria had a wide grin on her face.

"Don't look at me like that." I said to her.

I looked back down at Francia. "Please, spare me! I'm sorry! Forgive me-" I thrust my sword down and watched her disinagrate.

"And don't _EVER _do that again!"

**Good? Bad? Review!**


	7. Fluff?

**Sorry if this is late. I just got a new computer and I almost lost my files!**

**Luke's POV**

"Why did you shoot at my head anyways?" I asked Adria bewildered.

"That monster was about to kill you! You should be thankful!" She gasped when I touched her arm. It was the arm that one of the monsters had grabbed.

I rolled up her sleeve. "How did this happen?" The wound wasn't too bad, but the flesh around it was turning yellow.

She looked down at her arms and her eyes widened, "They…they… Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" she cried. They drugged her.

"Guess we should stay the night," I said. It had gotten really cold outside, even for spring. And apparently we had been in the mall longer than we had thought.

We walked around until we found an appliance store that had mattresses on display and camped out there.

Adria told me the reason we lost track of time was because of the mist. It was dulling our senses.

"So that's why you were acting so weird?" I was treating her wound. "The reason you made me follow those monsters through the store?"

Her expression was sad, "Luke, I'm sorry that happened. Please don't be mad! All I remember was looking into that car we saw in the road, and the next thing I know we were here." She looked down at her lap. She was fidgeting with her necklace.

I guess I _did kind_ ofsound like a jerk. "Hey I'm sorry. I'm just a little freaked still. The way you were acting earlier… it was like you didn't know me. I thought something had happened to you-"

"You thought I'd gone crazy now that they let me back into the world." She said dejectedly.

"No, no that's not it at all!" She raised her eyebrow. I sighed, "I was worried."

She glared at me, "So was everyone at camp. They didn't give me a quest for a lot of reasons. They think I won't be able to survive for a minute in the world alone. They think I would crack. That I've been out of the world so long that I can't handle being free." She had a glow in her eyes. "They don't trust me." She added wistfully.

Despite the fact that she was seriously freaking me out, I smiled "Why wouldn't they trust you? You were always so sweet. You still are." I laid back on the bed.

"They say that… that I'm dangerous. I don't know exactly how, but I'm supposed to be a weapon some day." She rested her head on my chest.

"What? How could something so beautiful be dangerous?" I brushed the hair off her face and smiled again.

"That's what everyone thinks. They think if they keep me away from the world that I won't turn into… whatever it is that's supposed to happen to me." She grinned her wicked grin again, "But they don't know. They don't know that I've heard what they say about me. They still think I'm an innocent little girl. They think their plan is working."

She really was starting to scare me with what she was saying. It was like she was turning evil or something. But that wasn't like her. That wasn't like the Adria I knew.

We sat in silence until I realized she had fallen asleep. "Goodnight." I whispered.

If you've never had a half-blood dream, consider yourself lucky. They're supposed to tell you something, like a warning or a heads up. All they tell me is that I'm going crazy.

I dreamt that I was sitting under a tree. The sun was setting over the ocean and Adria was sitting next to me. I felt completely content and relaxed. Nothing else in the world mattered.

But then there was a rumbling in the distance. A big shadow was traveling our way really fast.

I jumped up with my sword drawn. Adria stood too, but hid behind me.

As the thing sped toward us the ground began to shake even more. Golden apples began to fall from the tree we were under.

"Look out!" I shouted. We dove out of the way as the fruit began to pile on the floor, leaving craters in the ground as they fell.

The thing coming toward us finally came into view. Adria cried out in alarm as a giant bronze dragon came rushing toward us.

I readied my sword as the beast came closer. But it didn't slow down. It just kept coming at us.

"Get out of here! Run!" I told Adria.

She looked at me, with love in her eyes. But then her expression changed. Her eyes gave off a bright light: like they do when she uses her magic. She raised her hand as if to try to destroy the monster but when she took her eyes off of me she screamed a blood curdling scream.

I turned to see the monster swipe at us with its claws.

I woke up in a cold sweat. Adria was still laying her head on my chest. The sound of her scream rang in my ears.

* * *

We got an early start in the morning. For breakfast I broke into a vending machine full of fruit snacks and granola bars. Surprisingly they were still good.

We made it on the first bus to leave for Colorado. It really wasn't too far from where we had stayed, but I'm glad we didn't have to walk.

It would take a day and a half to get from Colorado to Nevada. The train would arrive in two hours, so we would have some quality time in the city of Heamston.

"You've been at camp for four years?" I asked Adria. I was trying to burn time.

"Yeah."

"And you've never been outside of camp until now."

"Pretty much, yeah."

"And they think you died in the fire?"

She took a deep breath, "Yes."

"So you don't exist anymore?" She was dead. My girlfriend: was dead. That was so cool!

"It's not like that. They had records of me before I died. Like school records and stuff."

"But you _died_. You're dead!" Never thought I'd ever be able to tell anyone that.

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever. What do you want to do? We have another hour and a half and I'm bored out of my mind."

"You want to go to the mall?" I teased.

"Don't even joke about that!" she shuddered.

The train ride was extremely irritating. If you have ADHD, I'm pretty sure you know how hard it is to sit still. The good part was that Adria bought a huge load of candy from one of the local stores. She's the best.

We stopped in Litsford, Utah. The train had to refuel.

"Two more hours of being in a place I don't know." Adria said sarcastically, "How wonderful."

"Did we run out of candy yet?" I asked. I _probably _didn't need anymore candy. I was feeling a little too good. But I can't help it. I am addicted to sugar.

"I've got a Snickers… a few more jawbreakers… and these!" she pulled out a bag loaded with gummy cola candies. My favourites!

"Oh I love those!" I tried reaching into the bag and she slapped my hand.

"I was going to save these for the rest of the trip!" she scolded.

"Aww come on! We can go buy more candies before we leave, just let me have one!"

"_You _don't need anymore candies! You ate most of the other candies! No more!"

"What are you, my mother?" I said shaking my head in shame.

"You wish," she smirked

I snatched the bag from her, "Ha!" She smiled a big smile, leaned in, and kissed me. I don't know why (because I've kissed her plenty of times before), but it distracted me long enough for her to take the bag back from me.

"Ha ha!" she took off running. I ran after her but it was no use. She was faster than me.

"Hey, wait up!" I called. But she just kept running. She turned a corner and after that I couldn't find her. "Great!" I yelled. Some people passing me gave me the '_weirdo_' look.

I kept walking. _Okay so she won't leave without me, and she won't go too far._ I thought to myself as I walked. _But what if she tries to come and find me? Then I'll NEVER find her!_ I needed to rest. The weather here was hot; nothing like where we were before. I found a bench in a park and sat down.

After a few minutes a big buff kid walked up to me with his dog. It was a big black dog, as big as the bench I was sitting on. I don't know what kind it was though.

"Hey, I think I saw you with that pretty girl a minute ago. Where is she?" He asked me. His voice wasn't deep enough for his size.

"Well if I knew I would tell _you._" I said.

"Nice kid. What's her name?" He said scowling.

"What's it to you?"

He chuckled, "You really want to pick a fight don't you kid?"

"No, I want you to leave my girlfriend alone. And stop calling me kid!"

"Your girlfriend eh?" he thought aloud. Then he started talking to his dog: "Well that won't be a problem much longer."

His dog started growling at me. Its eyes glowed bright red. Crap.

I leaped off the bench and ran as fast as I could. Unfortunately the dog was big but not slow. It snapped its jaws inches from my legs as I ran.

A dog this big and fast couldn't be any ordinary dog. This had to be a hellhound. They were usually bigger, but maybe this one was just a puppy. Not a happy thought.

I tried to lose it by turning another corner, but realized in horror that it was an alleyway.

I turned to face the hellhound. It was advancing on me slowly. I drew my sword. Nowhere to run, I might as well fight it.

It circled me a few times. It was baring its fangs and it had foam dripping out of its mouth.

"Well? Make a move!" I yelled at it. If I was going to die, I wanted this to be fast. Finally it pounced. It caught me on the shoulders and sent me flying backwards. But before it could bite my face off, I managed to stab my sword into its furry stomach.

It yelped in pain and rolled on its side, trying to get my sword out of its belly. I walked to it and pulled my sword out. It had a very fierce look in its eyes, but sighed and disinigrated.

_Too easy_ I thought. That wasn't the end of that though. As soon as I thought that I heard growling from above. I looked up to see four sets of red eyes peering down at me. At that moment, I simply ran.

I was getting really tired of running. But I couldn't fight all four dogs at once. Then I remember: Where the hell is my girlfriend?

Not a moment too soon I made it back to the park I had been in before, to see that creep that sent his dog on me talking to her. She looked like she was about to punch him, which was good.

Not much to my surprise, she pulled out her knife and stabbed him. Obviously he was a monster, because he was destroyed on the spot.

I would have ran to her, but I still had these stupid monsters on my tail. Luckily she noticed me.

"Luke? What the hell are you doing?" she shouted

"Just help me!" How was no one around us noticing this?

She raised her arms, her eyes shining bright. I couldn't hear what it was she was saying, because I had too much barking and snapping going on behind me, but I knew from experience that it was some sort of spell in ancient Greek.

Suddenly I was flying through the air. My skin was glowing funny colours. Adria's doing of course. I looked down and the hellhounds were nowhere to be found.

* * *

"Where were you? I've been looking for you everywhere!" Adria scolded me as we made our way back to the train station.

" I couldn't find you!… and with the monsters… and…"

We walked up to the ticket offices, "Um excuse me, can you tell me which station the train to Nevada is?" Adria asked the guy behind the glass.

"I'm afraid you missed that train young lady," the man said, "It left about forty five minutes ago."

"What? Really? Well is there another train leaving?"

"No I'm sorry. The next train arrives tomorrow at two. The station in Ellisville has a train leaving in about fifteen minutes, but unless you can fly or something I don't think you'll make it."

"Okay thank you." She sighed.

"Well what do we do?" I asked. It was getting dark now.

"Not much we _can_ do," her stomach growled loud enough for me to hear. "Ugh I'm starving! We can just stay her for the night I guess. For now let's get something to eat."

After a _wonderful_ meal of hamburgers, we stayed in a hotel room.

"Two kids, a hotel room all to ourselves, and no parents accompanying us. Why is there no suspicion in the world today?"

" What do they need to be suspicious of?" I asked.

I slipped my arms under hers and she wrapped arms around my neck. We rubbed our noses together . I moved my hands around on her back. I slid them down… then lower… then lower…

She laughed and kissed me. Her soft lips pressed against mine, and her tongue slid in my mouth. Then, with her lips still touching mine, she said "You're not getting it."

"Oh…" I said kissing her in between words, "And… what makes… you think I… want it?"

She giggled some more. I leaned back against the wall and she put her leg on my hip. "Because I know you do."

She turned off the light. " I love you."


	8. Toast

**Wow, how long has it been? Too long! Life is too distracting!**

**Adria's POV**

"You ready?" Luke asked me.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"You sure you want to do this?"

I looked him in the eye, "Yes."

"Do you got a plan?"

"Who do I look like, Annabeth?"

"Okay, let's go."

We stepped into the mist. It was so thick the light hardly got through.

"Concentrate on where you want to be." I reminded him. I slipped my hand into his. Wandering through the fog made me feel like I was back at camp.

I began to hear singing. It was beautiful singing, but _eerie._

As the fog cleared we were greeted by four girls. They had eyes and hair as black as stones. Each one was about a year older than the other; the oldest looked around my age. None of them looked very happy to see us.

"The Hesperides," Luke whispered, "The nymphs of sunset."

"Thou art not welcome here son of Hermes." The eldest said in a commanding tone.

"Nor are you daughter of Hecate." The younger one said just as firmly.

"We don't want to cause any trouble. We've just come for a fruit from your tree, so if you don't mind-"

"We know why you have come, and thou shall not take what thou hath come for."

"What's the big deal? It's just an apple. You've got a whole tree full of them!" I said

"They are not ordinary apples." One said

"They are the wedding gift from Zues to Hera. The apples of immortality." The other said.

"I know that." I mumbled. They're still just apples.

"You have traveled a long way, but thy quest is in vain. Thou cannot take the fruit."

"Well then how about you just give us one so we can get on with our lives." Luke suggested.

The eldest glared at him. "Thou can only take an apple if you defeat our dragon, Laydon. Only One hero has ever bested him, and he used help from a_ hunter_." She said that with hatred in her voice.

"Then we'll just have to defeat it then." I said. I glanced at Luke, "We can take him."

The younger one sneered at us, "You think you are so powerful together, as if love could do any good!"

"And fools they are for beleiving such." Another told her. The air shimmered around them and the fanished into thin air.

"We would wish thee luck," they whispered from nowhere, "But thou will need more than luck to stay alive."

Luke sighed, "That's reasurring."

I looked around for the first time. The garden was beautiful. There were huge fields full of flowers; any kind you can imagine. And in the middle of the garden, was a five-story tree with golden apples hanging from every bough.

Curled around the trunk of the tree, was an enormous dragon. It had coppery scales and a mis-match body. A serpent's body: long and slick, and a thick tail with a spike at the end. It had four round legs with sharp claws at the end of each. And then there was its head. See, it didn't have a head. It had _thousands _of heads. It was like someone fused a bunch of pythons together at the tail. Each head had bright beady eyes and black tongues. It was looking directly at us, waiting for us to come toward it.

"Maybe you _should _do this alone." I said in a small squeak.

"What?" Luke said outraged.

"Kidding." I said recomposing myself. I _really_ hate snakes!

We approached slowly. As we came closer it sat up on its hind legs and regarded us cautiously.

I noticed that the tree was closer to the left side of the mountain.

"Luke," I whispered

"Huh?" He answered nervously.

"I got a plan."

* * *

Luke skirted around the narrow path while I hung to the right.

"Hey scale face!" Not the best insult in the world. "I guess theres a reason they call it dragon breath!" The majority of its heads turned to face me, but not all of them.

"Beady eyed, dull clawed, smelly, puny disgrace of a dragon! You should be ashamed to show your face! All of them!" that got his attention. If he were a fire-breathing dragon I would have been toast. _Literally._ I slowly moved down the hill. I had to get it to follow me. Just long enough for Luke to get the apple. The only problem was I couldn't see him behind the monster.

"Could you _be_ any punier? You're smaller than an ant!" The insults weren't gonna get any better. "I bet when you jump, the world gets heavier!" Wait... What?

"Come on you stupid lizard. You're so small you couldn't even feed a germ! You make butterflies look scary! You'e so small you can't even- OW!" I fell backwards and hit my head on something hard.

Unfortunately the dragon was smart enough to charge at me when I fell. I rolled to the side as it swiped it's claws and left craters in the ground when it landed.

I stood as fast as I could, ready to run "You loser! You can't even aim straight!" I bolted to the left. "YOU CAN'T CATCH ME!" I taunted. It chased after me pulling up clumps of dirt as it ran.

I took out my spear. "Hey tiny, think fast!" I threw my spear with all my strength. It impaled the dragon in the shoulder. It looked deep enough to penatrate it's heart.

_SSCREEEEEEEE! _It hissed in pain.

It's heads began nipping at the shaft. They ripped the spear out of it shoulder bringing flesh out with it (And believe me it wasn't pretty), and smashed it into a million pieces.

Then the dragon, now foaming with rage, charged at me again.

I came to a cliff and nearly dove over it on accident. I had nowhere to run. I couldn't run to the tree. There was no where else to go.

_Oh well _I thought to myself. _I'm going down one way or another. _I pulled out my sword and shield.

"YAH!" I yelled. Huge spikes of rock erupted from the ground as I raised my sword. The dragon crashed into it at full speed, crumbling it to pieces.

Once it was dazed I found the oppertunity to run. I dove straight under it, slicing off the bottom row of heads. They hissed and sizzled until they were only sand in the breeze.

_Maybe that is how to kill it! _I thought. _Slice all the heads off! _

Then I got an idea. I would use a spell. It was risky, because I'd have to get dangerously close. But at the moment I didn't care. I'd have to kill it if I was gonna come out of this alive.

The dragon came out of it's daze. I looked around confused. Obviously it didn't remember what it was doing.

I thought about climbing on it's back when it suddenly whirled around, swinging it's tail and knocking me on my back.

It roared (If snakes can roared) stomping it's claw down on my chest. It nearly knocked my lights out!

_Use a spell already!_ A voice in my head told me. All I could think of was _OW_!

Then it came to me. the same way the spell had came to me to save Luke. In a split second moment, I thought of three words a normal person would probably never use together in a sentence.

_"Demon rocket destroy!" _Of course in Greek spells a lot of wierd words could be put together and make perfect sense. In Greek it came out to ρόκα δαίμονας καταστρέψει.

The dragon was engulfed in flames an shot up in the air like a fire work. But as it took off from the ground it's scaly claw wrapped around me and brought me flying through the air at a million miles an hour.

The last thing I remember before hitting the ground was falling with a thousand snake heads.

* * *

My eyes fluttered open. My vision was blurry. I could barely make out the thin outline of a figure next to me.

"Luke..." I croaked. The sound of my voice startled me.

"Shh," The figure told me. A hand brushed my face, "I'm right here."

Two arms pushed thier way underneath me and lifted me into the air. Luke cradled me in his arms, swaying back and forth. Then he started walking. I couldn't see where we were. All I could see was the moonlight and Luke.

There was a rushing in my ears that made everything sound fuzzy. I could almost make out the sound of waves and the chirping of crickets.

"Where..?" I struggled to say. My voice sounded terrible.

"I'm going to take you to see a friend. He can help you." Luke said gently.

I nodded. He carried me a long ways. We ducked into a dark cavern and all light cut off.

**Luke's POV**

Adria wasn't looking too good. Her arms and neck were burnt and bruised. Her hair was singed and her face was full of scorch marks. What was she thinking? She can't just go blowing herself up! She practically gave me a heart attack!

I had to get her to Daedalus. He was the only one I knew could help her.

I entered the Labyrinth and searched my camp necklace. I had a charm that Daedalus had given me to find his workshop. It looked like a pearl, round and smooth. But glowed when I was in the Labyrinth. It shone on the correct path that I needed to take. What, you think Adria was the only one with a cool necklace?

It took me longer than it should have, but I made it to his workshop. I burst through the doors, not wasting a second.

"Please you've got to help! She's hurt! I need your help!" At the sound of my screaming he rushed over to me.

He wasted no time either, " Quick boy, lie her down here!" He pushed the tools off of one of the work benches and pulled it out to the center of the room. I rested her gently on the table. "So what happened?" He said examining her wounds.

"I-I don't know. We're on a quest, a-and she just- she just- " I'd like to say I was handeling it well, I really would. But honestly, I was losing it.

"I see. Do you think you can wake her up?" He walked away to get some supplies.

I brushed the tips of my fingers against her arm. "Dri? Hey Dri? Wake up. Wake up. Dri wake up!" I grabbed her shoulder and she winced.

"Ow!" She gasped. "Whats wrong with you?"I smiled. She was okay.

"Can you move? Can you move anything in your body? This is important! Pay attention!" Her eyes were wandering aimlessly all over the room.

"I can move my... ow! Um... ow! No I can't. Where are we? I can't see."

Daedalus took a deep sigh, "It's worse than I thought. I'll have to perform extensive surgery on her. I can't be sure that she will ever be able to see again though..."

_"What?"_ We both said at the same time.

"Surgery?" I asked bewildered.

"Yes. You see: her arms are broken in four different places; here, here, here, and here. Her legs are both broken, and her ankles are swollen suggesting a sprain. There are deep wounds all around her abdominal area. And she has fractures in her skull and I don't want to _know_ how many broken ribs she has."

"So how is surgery going to help?"

"I'll have to replace many bones, but on the bright side she won't be breaking them again."

"Don't _I _get a say in this?" Adria said.

I kissed her forehead. Daedalus shot me a strange look, but I ignored it. "You need to get help. This is the only way to make you better. I promise, it will be fine."

She fixated her eyes on me. "How are you sure? Oh, I wish I could see you!"

"I know. You know you still look beautiful. Even with the burn marks."

"_WHAT BURN MARKS!"_

"I'm ready for her now. Remove her pants and shirt, but _please_ leave the rest of her clothes on. You boys and your hormones..." He said coming back into the room with a tray full of tools. Adria laughed.

**Sorry it started out kinda funny. There was absolutely nothing that would be interesting enough when they traveled.**

**Please review!**


	9. Rush

**It was kinda rushed, so this chapter seriously short but pretty important. If you don't agree that I suck at writing action you're too kind.**

I waited in the workshop for days. I paced up and down the stairs so many times I lost count. Daedalus was making Adria's new bones out of metal. It took two days alone to make the bones, and plenty of more time to replace them all.

Adria was in and out of sleep. When she was awake I fed her nectar and ambrosia. She seemed to be slowly taking in the fact that she was blind but never really seemed to mind much. She asked me what the workshop looked like. Her voice recovered on it's own, along with the burns on her face. She kept telling me that she wish she could move.

"Soon," I kept reminding her. But soon was starting to take longer and longer. The camp was probably wondering what had happened to us by now. I couldn't leave to explain because then they will think just what Adria said they would. They'll never let her back into the world if they knew she got hurt. I couldn't do that to her. Especially since it was my fault. If I had distracted the dragon instead of her, none of this would have happened!

Daedalus refused to work any faster. "Bone-making is a slow process," he argued, "Unless you want your girlfriend to have mis-shapen bones for the rest of her life!"

I was feeling so restless. I could barely sleep. Guilt hung over me like storm clouds. I tried telling myself that it wasn't my fault; it was an accident. But I didn't believe that. I should have known her plan wasn't going to work!The prophecy said that_ I _was supposed to face the dragon. I was so stupid for letting her do it for me!

That reminded me of the rest of the prophecy.

_One will accompany you on this quest,  
to find a treasure in the west.  
_Yeah, we did that.

_You must take a fruit but only one,  
shining golden in the setting sun.  
_Yep. I got an apple.

_A beastly guard defends the place,  
__But only alone is how you may face.  
_Well clearly I screwed up on that!

_You will win the quest but fail at heart,  
and must make things right or soon depart.  
_Adria getting heart was pretty much a fail. Not so much though. She's still _alive_. But what does it mean by 'make things right or soon depart'? Is she going to break up with me? That's kinda stupid.

Finally Daedalus, the world's slowest surgeon, finished mending her bones. He even fixed her eyes! She was as beautiful as ever.

"How much longer until she wakes up?" I asked, eager to see how she felt.

"There is a switch. Right here." He moved her arm and pointed to a small scar under her left arm. "Now, you must never tell anyone about this switch. Not even she can know about it. If anyone was ever to find out about it, they could reprogram the setting I have set for her. Or even kill her."

"And what settings do you have?" I said trying to hide the nervous tone in my voice. ADHD makes you blurt things that you shouldn't.

"Oh, nothing much. If I am correct on her programing, it should be the same as mine." He tapped his wrist and a hatch opened in his skin, revealing geares and tubes that transferred golden liquid like veins. "She will be able to function like a regular human being, but her actions will be more accurate."

"Okay." I tapped the scar on her arm and watched as a hatch opened just as Daedalus' did. There were wires, but no gears. It pressed the small button and it lit up teal. There were beeping and clicking noises and then she opened her eyes.

When I saw her eyes, they were just as they were before. She adjusted them on me and smiled. She moved her wrist in a twitching motion. Sitting up, she examined her movement with her eyes moving quickly. She kicked her legs over the side of the works bench and stood straighter than a pole.

She opened her mouth to speak. "Luke, it works."

"Yeah, I'm glad! Can you see now?"

"Luke, it works!"

"Um, yeah I know. You already said that." I shot a glance at Daedalus and raised a skeptic eyebrow. He shrugged.

"Did I?" She raised her voice, "I didn't notice!"

"Why are you shouting? Are you okay?" okay obviously she wasn't okay.

"I'm not shouting!" She screamed, "I'm trying to whisper! NOW I'M SHOUTING!" Her voice echoed through the entire workshop, making the windows shake.

"What did you do to her?" I yelled at Daedalus, who was slowly backing away.

He ran for the door. I pulled my sword, "Where are you going?" He grabbed a sword off of one of his work benches.

"Fixing the problem." Adria stopped screaming and smiled. "You see, I don't need you. I am a very rare half-blood, and Daedalus would like to use me to study. But we can't have you go tell everyone where we are. So we've got to get rid of you." Her voice sounded pre-recorded, like she was programed to say that. She probably was.

Daedalus tossed her the sword. I felt like freaking out. What the hades was going on? I thought I brought her here to get help! I thought he knew that too!

"No hard feelings son. But she is a magnificent specimine of my automatons. I just don't think I can let her go."

I raised my sword at him, "Your as selfish and twisted as they say you are!"

"Don't get so brave boy. At the snap of my fingers, your girlfriend will destroy you. And you would have no chance against me anyways! In my day, I was the best swordsman to walk the earth."

"Well your day is over. Its my turn now!" I lunged at him. He side stepped and I crashed into an easle.

"I warned you." He snatched the sword from Adria. She twitched strangely. She wasn't the type of person who you could just boss around.

I swung my sword and our weapons locked. "I'll make a deal with you." I said.

"Oh, and what do you have that is worth more than my automaton?"

"We'll have a fight. If you win, you can kill me and keep my girlfriend. If I win you fix her back to normal and we both walk out of here unharmed."

He thought on that for a moment. "A reasonable offer, but nothing I can't achive without fighting you."

"I'll give you..." I thought about what I could give him. My life, my girlfriend, that's pretty much everything. "I'll give you... this." I reached in my bag an grabbed the golden apple.

"You are going to risk everything for her, aren't you?" He marveled.

"By whatever means neccisary." I said.

"Fine. You have a deal. Lets be done with this quickly. I have much work to do once I a m done with you." He stabbed his sword at me and we engaged in battle.

I slashed and stabbed and lunged and parried. I rolled and jumped and dodged and ducked. I used every move that I could, but I couldn't seem to disarm him. meanwhile Adria just stood there mindlessly with a blank expression.

I got tired of fighting this guy really fast. It was so pointless! Neither of us were going to win. I grabbed a pencil sharpener off of a desk and threw it at him. It hit him right in the forehead. He stumbled backwards and fell to the floor. Stupid! Why didn't I think of that before!

He stood but the tip of my blade met his neck before he could reach his sword. "I win! Now how do I fix her?" I demanded.

"you-you can't! The settings are permanent! She will only obey the one with the ring!"

I dug my sword into his chest, "Then give me the ring! Give it to me old man, or I'll rip off your limbs and throw them into the depths of Tartarus!"

He fumbled with his fingers and dropped the ring into my hand. It was black with slivers of gold and silver, just like her sword.

"Now let me go! I gave you the ring!"

"How does it work? She's still zoned out!"

"She cannot be fixed!" Out of anger and frustration, I pushed my sword through his chest. He didn't die. I already knew he couldn't die, but I wish he did. "We made a deal! You promised to fix her!"

"I never swore on the Styx. If you want something done it needs to be sworn on the Styx, otherwise it doesn't have to count."

I cursed, "So then how do I shut her down?"

He grunted, "If you're going to shut her down, why not just leave her with me?"

"Because!" I snapped. "She's mine!" I put the ring on my finger.

"Adria," I said cautiosly. I walked to her. Daedalus struggled to take to sword out of his chest.

Her pupils adjusted on me like a camera lense, "Yes love?" She said.

"H-how are you feeling?" My voice cracked.

"Just fine doll. A little light headed."

I laughed lightly. "Do you remember me? Do you know my name?"

"Well of course, you're-"

I heard the sound of a blade being drawn. I turned around to find Daedalus free and a sword hurtling toward me. It slid down the left side of my face. "AGH!" I clenched my face in pain. But it kept moving past me and lodged itself into the inside of Adria's arm, where the switch was.

She screamed the most grousome scream, exactly like the one in my dream. Sparks flew out from the gash in her arm as she pulled out the sword. Her knees buckled and she dropped to the floor.

No! I rushed to her.

Daedalus stood over me, "A shame really. She was so young."

I looked up at him and lost it. "RAAAGHH!" I screamed. I picked up the sword and in a matter of seconds both of his arms were torn from his body and in my hands.

"What? How did you- Oh give me those!" He came at me but I kicked him in the chest and sent him flying backwards.

"You want these back? Go get them!" I threw them out of the open window. Then I grabbed him by his collar, lifted him up, and stabbed the sword through his stomach and into the wall. "Good luck."

I sighed a deep sigh. Now I had to get to Adria. My mind was all jumbled. She got help, but is she dead now? How was I going to get her back? I could cry, but no. I am a man. Men don't cry. At least not out loud.

I picked her up in my arms. Her eyes were open, looking all around. Her dark blue eyes were shining brighter than ever. But the lifeless-ness on her face was too real for there to be hope. There was only one place to take her now. Where defective automatons belong. This was it.


	10. Wake

**3 YEARS LATER**

I had the wierdest dream.

There was an old man opperating surgery on me. Then Luke was fighting the old man. I would have helped him, but I couldn't move. I hate dreams like that. I woke from my dream, only to see something that still haunts my memories.

I opened my eyes. I saw the moon and the stars layed out overhead. I was laying on something hard and pointy. Luke was looking down at me with tears in his eyes. I tried opening my mouth to speak, but no words came out.

"Good bye." Luke said. He kissed my forehead gently, his lips seemed to me like the laugh of my father: too precious for words to describe. Then he was gone. I blinked the tears out of my eyes and fell back to sleep.

_Beep... Beep... Whirrrrrrr- CRACK!_

_"_OW!" I rolled over in my sleep. Something pointy jabbed me in the stomach.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I was sitting on something cold and hard. I looked down. Wait... Where are my clothes?

I stood faster than I wanted to a got a dizzy feeling. I brushed the hair out of my face and froze as soon as I saw a movement .

"Hello? Is anyone there?" I looked around. I was in a field of metal objects. It ranged from swords, to pizza pans, to washing machines, to musical instruments, cars, and even a few animals.

I turned my head and noticed something moving from the corner of my eye. I whirled around. In front of me was a girl. She had long flowing brown hair that hung past her waist. Her intense dark blue eyes glowed brightly. She looked just as shocked to see me as I was to see her. Oh, and did I mention that she doesn't have any clothes on either?

"Um... hello?" The girl spoke and moved as I did. "Can you tell me where I am?" My voice echoed through the mountains of metal. She copied my movement but didn't respond.

I frowned and she frowned. I took a step back and she did the same. I lifted my arm, she copied. I stood on one foot, and she continued to copy me. "You know this isn't funny!" I told her in frustration. She mimicked me again, her movements precicely in time with mine.

I sighed. The girl had a strange white line that ran from her collar bone down to two dark circles that were just between her stomach and chest; where her ribs ended. That was funny. I had the same birthmarks in the same spot.

I sat down. Something bright shone on my face. Blinded, I tried to make out what it was. It was the moon. But the moon was behind me.

I stood and walked toward the girl. She did the same. At the same time we pushed the hair out of our faces and peered into eachother's eyes. I was looking at... me.

I reached out and touched something cold. As soon as my fingers touched it, it shattered into a million pieces. Huge shards of that... whatever it was lie out in front of me. _I have to still be dreaming,_ I thought to myself. I took a shard just in case and walked away. I went North. Well, it was north as far as I could tell.

The night was chilly. Every now and then a breeze struck and i got goose bumps all over.I walked for miles, over hills and hills of metal. I didn't get tired. I didn't need to rest. But I did need some water. It felt my tongue turned to sand.

Finally I came to a road. It was a two-lane road, with street lights seperated about a half a mile apart. Something told me it wasn't a good idea to walk down the road naked. Something else told me to ignore that.

I stepped onto the pavement. It was warm compared to the cold metal I had been walking on. I started down the street when the world shook like never before. An aweful noise, like nails on a chalk board, sounded louder than a fire engine. A huge blob of metal erupted from the rest. At first it looked like just a mass of something, but then it grew taller. No, it stood up. Standing taller than a sky scaper, was a huge Greek warrior. Made of _metal._

I gawked up at the thing, both facinated and terrified at the same time. It looked down at me with lifeless eyes and opened its mouth, "_WWRRREEEEEEEEEENCH!" _It made a noise like a giant soda can being ripped apart.

_Man, I have some of the wierdest dreams sometimes. Well this is a dream anyways, I can do what I want._ I planted my feet firmly on the ground, raised my arms and focused hard. I willed a car to rise into the air and drive straight into the warrior's face.

"G_RROOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"_

It fell onto it's butt, sending a wave through the ground like an earthquake. Then I thought of something strange. I closed my eyes and imagined an off switch, and me pressing it. I imagined the giant warrior falling when I pressed it.

I opened my eyes. The huge automaton was struggling to stand. I pretended to press the off button. the warrior's head twitched to the side. It collapsed and the impact of it hitting the ground threw me off my feet.

* * *

The next thing I know I'm at the waterfall.

The sun flickered through the water, making the walls of the cavern glitter. I rubbed my eyes. How'd I get here? I don't remeber anything. Still!

I looked down. So I wasn't dreaming... I'm still naked! Luckily I always kept clothes here. I searched around the room. All of our things were in place. And lying on my bag was a single red feather.

Oh No! Where was Ambros? "Ambros!" I ran outside, "Ambros!" I called. But there was no response.

That wasn't the worst of my problems. With sudden horror, I wondered where Luke was. I wondered how I got here. I wondered how long I'd been here. I wondered things until I had to punch myself to stop thinking so hard.

I took a deep breath. _Control yourself. Everything is going to be fine. Nothing happened, you just had a wierd dream. All you have to do is go into camp and ask what happened. Oh, and put some clothes on first. _

I dressed myself hurriedly, brushing my long over-grown hair. I looked in the mirror one last time. I looked... older. I was definetely taller. My face looked different than it had before.

I left as quick as I could. Running through the forest was like an old memory. I checked my necklace for my sword. That wasn't there either. Great!

I stopped whem I got to a clearing. In the field there were twelve cabins. Most of them looked abandoned. I saw a few kids coming out with bags and suitcases._ Its probably the last day of the summer session._ I thought.

I walked around the back side of the cabins, so as not to bring attention to myself. I saw one or two kids I knew from before, but not many more. Everyone had wierd hair styles and clothing. They were dressed in plaid and so many stripes it made your eyes hurt. Everybody, even the guys, were whering tapered leg pants. Some girls had on shoes that looked like the ones Peter Pan wore in the story. Did the 80's invade the world while I was sleeping or something?

I looked through a few windows. In the Aphrodite cabin there were pictures of guys I've never heard of. I heard music blaring from the Apollo cabin that didn't sound familiar either. I checked the window next to my bed in the Hermes cabin. I couldn't tell if anyone had been using it, but it looked pretty much the same as I remembered it. That was a relief. Everything had changed around here. Something fishy was definately going on.

Speaking of fishie, I noticed a camper come out of cabin 3, the Posiedon cabin. That was new. There weren't supposed to be any chidren of the big three because of the prophecy. There _weren't_ any children of the big three, except for Thalia of course. Maybe I could get some answers out of him.

I walked up to him casually. I heard him curse when he hit his hand, which was wrapped in bandages, on the door handle.

"Hey," I said. He regarded me wearily like he was having a bad day.

"Hey." He said in response.

"So... what's your name?"

He seemed a little confused at my question. "I'm Percy. What's your name?"

"Oh, I'm, uh-"

"Percy! You left your bag in the big hou-" A girl with blonde hair ran up with a backpack in her arm. She was about twelve or thirteen. She stopped short when she saw me. "Who are you?"

"Well... I'm Adria." I said. I didn't really want to tell anyone my name because I _really_ didn't know what was going on.

"Adria?" The girl's gray eyes wondered at me. "I used to have a friend named Adria."

I flipped the hair out of my face. "Annabeth?"

The girl took a step back slowly. Her eyes were full of both awe and concern. "No, you can't be Adria. Shes dead. The dragon killed her."

"No, Annabeth, I'm not dead. What happened? Why is everything so wierd? And where is Luke?"

"Wait, Luke?" The boy, Percy, asked.

"Yeah, what about him? Do you know where he is?" I said.

"No, he tried to kill me today!" Percy's tone was dead serious but I couldn't help but stifle a laugh.

Annabeth shook her head in disbelief. "How are you- What are you- How can you-"

"I don't know," I reached for her shoulder, "But I'm here now. What's going on?"

**Percy's POV ( I can do that can't I? Oh well I'm doing it anyways!)**

Annabeth explained everything that happened to her: Luke had come back from his quest with the news that Adria was dead. She's been 'dead' for three years now. Luke stole Zues' master bolt during the winter solstice, and used me to take the bolt to the Underworld to start a war of the gods. However, Annabeth Grover and I were able to return the bolt to Zeus and return Hades' helm of darkness before a war could start. Then this afternoon, while Luke and I were talking in the woods, Luke revealed his plan to me, summoned a pit scorpion, and left me for dead in the woods.

"Wait, so I don't get it," Adria said, "Why was Luke trying to kill you?"

"The heck if I know! That guy's a psycopath!" I said

"Hey, don't talk about him that way." she warned.

"Why? The guy wants to kill me! He's nuts!"

"Watch who you're talking about. He's not crazy.

"Okay, he's not crazy. He insane!"

"Well maybe I can finish what he started-" she pulled a shard from her pocket and pointed it at my throat.

"Will you stop! Both of you!" Annabeth shouted.

"She's the one getting all defensive!" I said. "What is he, your _boyfriend?_"

She made a face at me, "Well he _was_. Now don't know what he is." She looked hurt.

"REALLY?," Annabeth elbowed me in the gut, "I mean... you dont deserve a jerk like that!"

"He wasn't always a jerk. He has to be the nicest guy I know. I can kinda tell why he would try to kill you..."

"Gee thanks, you're so kind." I said.

"No! Not why he would kill you. Why he became.. evil I guess. He and I think the same, you know. I wouldn't be able to stand if I lost him. Maybe he just snapped."

"Maybe," Annabeth said. "But we think it might be something else."

"Yeah. Kronos." I whispered.

"Kronos?"

"Yes," I told her about what Luke had told me. For someone who just came back from being dead, she seemed to be taking everything in very nicely.

"So you think Luke really is evil, and he's working for the evil titan lord that was chopped into a million pieces and cast into Tartarus thousands of years ago."

"Pretty much," I said

"But it doesn't make any sense to me either," Annabeth said

"Well have you told Chiron?" Adria asked.

"Well Chiron-" Annabeth's eyes widened, "Oh my gods Chiron! You need to see him! He'll be so surprised you're alive!"

Adria shook her head "No Annabeth, you can't tell him I was here. You guys can't tell _anyone_ I was here."

"Why not" I asked

"Because I'm going to find Luke."

**I'll only post another chapter if I get some reviews!**


	11. Ship Ahoy

**SUPER SHORT CHAPTER!**

**Adria's POV**

Annabeth had a _great _guy on her hands (hint: sarcasm). I bet that guy would lose his head is it weren't attatched to his neck! And either she didn't let on, or he was just oblivious. Hmm, I wonder which one.

Now it was time to find Luke. I was going to find him with no lead and no help from anyone. This is gonna be tough.

The first thing I should probably do is find some new clothes. My shirt was too tight, my jeans were high-waters, and the shoes I had were anything but new. But I didn't have my necklace or my jacket so I didn't have any money.

That leaves me with the option of stealing. No problem! My boyfriend is a son of the god of thieves, _and_ I've been staying in a cabin of thieves my whole life. I can handle this.

**Luke's POV**

**(few weeks later)**

_You will keep your army on this ship. _Kronos told me in my dream, _It is big enough for 10,000 soldiers. But first you must rid of the pesky mortals. Do this before the next port, or you will have more to deal with._

I winced at the thought of the nighmares he had given me. I hate that he has to punish me by doing that. I used to think dreams were the only time I could escape the world. It was the only time I was able to see _her _again.

I boarded the cruise ship. On the side was the name: _Princess Andromeda._ Way too old fashion Greek for me, but this was the ship Kronos told me to use. It was a huge ship. Big enough for anyone to get lost. But I never got lost.

I hung around the ship for a day or two, so as not to look conspicuous. In the dead of the night -and I mean _dead_- I snuck out to the of my room. Stupid mortals and thier puny security gaurds. Like they could even fight a threat. Well I'm their threat, but they couldn't fight me anyways. It was almost _too easy_.

I stood at the front of the ship. My hair rustled in the salty sea wind. I took a moment to take it all in. In a short while, this whole ship would be mine. If it weren't for Kronos, I'd be able to do what I wanted with it. But this place wouldn't be any fun. Not alone.

I chanted in Ancient Greek, casting a spell over the boat and it's passengers. I sensed the mist thicken all around me.

_Good, now finally you must change the ship's course. Go to Florida and work your way along the coast. I will be recruiting heros for your army and they will begin to arrive soon enough. In the mean time, _Kronos chuckled evilly, _Try to enjoy yourself._

**Adria's POV**

My first idea was to go to Olympus and ask his father for help. That is a really stupid idea. Let me tell you why: 1. Olympus thinks I'm dead. Zues, my mom, everyone. If they knew I was alive they would think Hades brought me back to life or something, and that wouldn't be pretty. 2. The gods are _always _busy, and Lord Hermes is by far the busiest of them all. It would probably be impossible to get a meeting with him. 3. Luke _HATES _his father. I mean absolute _HATES_ him. Enough said?

So next I thought of finding someone else to help me. Who would that be? No idea.

**Luke's POV**

This is supposed to be like my fortress right? So that means I get first pick on rooms. Of course the general state room would be anyone's choice. But I think I'll go to the Royalty suite. Not many people know this, but that room is actually bigger.

Manipulating people is only fun when you have a good reason. I layed down on the couch. I'd have to wait until room service cleaned the sheets in the morning.

I pulled the necklace from under my collar. I carefully examined the charms that I always looked at when I thought about Adria. It was her necklace after all. I tugged on the sword shaped one, then the shield shaped one. Both marvelous weapons apearred in my hands.

I slid my thumb down the sword flat, studying the beautiful gold and silver swirls that ran all the way down the black blade. On one egde there was celestial bronze that hung on the rim. The sword was made from five different kinds of metal: Gold, Silver, Celestial Bronze, and Stygian Iron. The last metal was strange. It was a liquid, incased in an orb shaped vial at the hilt. It was magical, and could heal a person who was dying. But they had to take it _at _the verge of thier death. No sooner or later. I wish I had known about it when Adria was dying.

Then I held up the shield. It was equally beautiful, with some different features. The shield was made of volcanic rock, with molten lava coating the outside. It could melt any opponent's sword with single impact. Impressive, but carrying it during battle was hard considering it was made of rock.

These things were always good to remind me of my lost friend. She was much more than a friend. Sometimes I wish the dragon would have taken me instead...

"Chirp?" A bird sang from the opposite end of the room.

I sat up, "What are _you _doing here."

"Chirp chirp." The Ambrose said in response. It flew around in a circle then rested on the bed's canopy. That bird has been following me around ever since I came back to camp. I think it wanted to know where it's owner was.

"You know you don't need to keep pestering me. I know what happened. You could just go and-" I stopped myself. How can birds make that innocent look with thier eyes? Its annoying! I knew it didn't want to be alone, but I didn't know what to do with it. I couldn't understand it the way Adria did.

It squawked at me. Stupid bird never liked me to begin with. But sometimes it was comforting to me. It was fascinating creature really. Things probably wouldn't be the same without it.

I sighed, promising myself the same thing I did every night. I would destroy the gods for not helping to save Adria. I would tear Olympus down brick by brick for letting her fall.

_The gods aren't allowed to interfere with quests _A voice spoke in my head. No, I argued. It was the same voice that always told me otherwise. It always told me to stop being angry and just get over her. The truth was, Adria wasn't the only reason I'm mad at the gods. It has always been that way. My father was never with me when I was a child. At camp, you hear the kids talking about the presents thier parents give them, and I've never gotten anything. It was... It wasn't jealousy. He never cared for me. He just left me with that maniac for nine years, until I finally ran away.

Being on the run with Thalia and Annabeth was the best time of my life. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world; except Adria. She was always there for me. But now she's gone, and the gods are still sitting on thier golden thrones not losing any sleep about it. I am not just an angry jerk out to avenge the death of my girlfriend. I have a _reason_. Or at least, I could tell myself I did.

**Adria's POV**

I might as well give up hope. It's been weeks and I still have no ideas of how to find Luke!

I went back to camp and stayed in my cave. Why did I even come back from being dead? It isn't any good to keep my life if I'm lost with no explanation for anything. I threw myself down on the pillow in the courner. Stupid life. Stupid camp. Stupid waterfall. Stupid-

"Hey what's this?" I thought. I found a piece of paper folded neatly, with big clear hand-writing.

_To who it may intrest,_

I unfolded the paper.

_If you were given infomration about this loctaion, than it is impotant that you keep reeding. If you were not and you're just snooping, GET OUT!  
The following ports will be used to recrute soldeirs for lord Kronos's army.  
The schedule for the recuitment hours are located on teh back of this sheet, along with the names of the ports.  
__Lord Kronos will wait for NO ONE so be there or go back to living your precius life  
but be warnd that a war is coming soon and all that refuse to join Kronos's cause will be killed!_

_Good Day._

I flipped the paper over and read all of the scheduled timings. Why would Luke bring people to our waterfall? This wasn't even Luke's hand writing! But it was definately a half-blood's. I guess I'll just have to take my chances with recruitment.

Next port: Florida.

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**If you didn't catch on, the misspelled words in that paragraph were spelled like that on purpose.**

**So how did I do on this chapter? Good, bad, supercalifragalistic-expialedocious ?  
REVIEW OR NO COOKIES FOR YOU!**


	12. The Present

**The character that played Hades in the remake of Clash of the Titans is totally off!**

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**Adria's POV **

My first encounter with the god of death was more than I had expected. But who expects to meet Hades?

I was leaving from New York. It was winter and my crime spree was getting harder to carry out with the holidays coming around. I packed my stuff and decided to start heading south. The recruitment ship didn't come into the Florida port until summer of next year. It was way too long to hang around until it came, but I'd have to wait either way.

I couldn't take a plane, because I had no identification. I would have to steal a car. Not too hard. It brought back memories of when Luke and I were on the quest. We stole a car to get to San Franciso. It was fun.

When I found a car I took off right away. The tank of gas was full and I wouldn't have to stop until I reached Virginia. But while I was driving through some fileds somewhere near Pensylvania, I got lost.

I ended up in some woods. The trees had black wood and thick leaves covered every branch. Fog rolled close to the ground. As I got deeper the sunlight started to wear away from behind me, so I turned on my headlights to see. What I saw stunned me.

In front of me were two skeletal horses pulling a black and gold chariot. Holding the reins was a tall man in sleek black robes. His eyes were cold and deranged. I couldn't help but feel I'd seen him before. In a dream maybe...

"Come out little hero." He said. I heard him clearly, even through the car windows. I stepped out of the car and walked slowly to him. He did the same and stepped out of his chariot. He was even taller than he seemed in the chariot.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice quavering.

"Who do you think I am."

"You're... Hades." I said. I knew I've seen him somewhere before .

"Very good. I am surprised to see you are still fully functional." He speculated.

"Where are we? Why did you bring me here?" I asked

"You assume I brought you here?" He asked

"Yes."

"Smart girl. I brought you here because, well you see, you are dead. You've been dead for, oh, about three years now. And what I am wondering is to how you are still here and not in Hades with me."

"Well if I knew that I would tell you, but I'm pretty stumped too." I admitted

"Oh but I think you do know." He smirked, "I am not stupid. I know you took an apple from the garden of the hesperides, and if you think you can cheat death you are wrong. You belong in the underworld."

"Wait, you think I ate an apple of immortality?" I revolted

"Do not make me repeat myself! Come along and you won't have any trouble." he ordered.

"But I haven't done anything wrong!"

"I told you to come along! Now get in the chariot and lets go!" He grabbed for my arm with a hand bigger than my head.

"No!" I shook him off. "First off, I never even touched an apple. Second I don't have a clue to why I am alive, but I didn't cheat anything! Third, why do I have to come with you? I'm not dead obviously!"

"You would be wise not to argue with me girl! I am not in the mood to be toying with any of you stupid demigods today! Now _come along!_"

"NO! I'm not going anywhere! I am _going _to find Luke, whether you like it or not! GOT IT?" I shouted with rage. I was getting framed for something I didn't even do!

"YOU WILL NOT SHOUT AT A GOD!"

"WELL I JUST DID!"

"YOU-" He stopped. "AHAHA HAHA HAHAHAHAHAAHA!" His laughter boomed through the forest. "You have to be the first person to shout at death in the face!" He laughed.

I tried smiling to hide the fact that I was completely wierded out by this. Way to have a mood swing death.

"Maybe I was wrong about you," He acknowledged

"Well what did you think about me before?" I asked keeping the mood light.

"I thought you were just another demigod trying to live a couple more useless years. You are fairly brave. I wish my children could be as brave as you."

"Lord Hades I thought you swore not to have anymore children."

"Oh, I don't have any children. Or at least, that's what they think." He winked at me. " I heard you are to be the most powerful half-blood of a ten thousand years. More powerful than Posiedon's brat."

"You would know more about that than me." I said

"Have they not told you?" I shook my head. "You are said to be the greatest influence in the great prophecy! You see, the prophecy has both sides: The side that will make the decision and the side that brings forth the decision. You cannot just make a decision about nothing and expect the world to be destroyed." He spoke with his hands

"Or saved?" I added raising my eyebrow

He chuckled "Yes, or saved. You are not a child of one of the eldest gods, therefore your part portrays the decision rather than make it. Your power will grow to unstoppable. You will become more powerful than the gods themselves, and the decision will impact your life enough to kill you." He flashed a look of craziness that made me want to run. " Of course this is just a theory. But your power _will_ grow. It's growing as we speak."

"So you're saying if Percy is the child of the prophecy, my life is in his hands."

He thought for a moment "Precisely."

"Great! I'm screwed!"

He laughed some more, "Well then I suppose I'll be seeing you soon enough then."

"Not too soon I hope." I dejected.

"Take care then." Hades said stepping back into his chariot, " And do not tell the others I let you live."

And with that he melted into shadows and the forest around me disappeared. I stood in the middle of the road trembling as it started to rain.

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**(many months later)**

Today, June 10th, is the anniversary of my death. I have now been dead for 7 years. 7 in the mortal world, 3 in the mythical world to be exact.

_I should go out and celebrate_ I told myself. _What is there to do in Florida..._ Okay, I know what you're thinking. But I still don't feel comfortable in the real world just yet. I feel like I'm still 16! In reality, I'm 19 almost 20. I'm old enough to get into an R rated movie now! **:D**

I turned on the television. I was never really a big fan of it, but I could watch it every now and then.

"- Teenager around eighteen, who has been caught on camera shoplifting in several different stores. She is said to have light brown hair, 5'10'', and blue eyes. Police do not have any information of where she may be at this moment, but suspect she is still in the state. If you have any information about the whereabouts of this girl please contact the authorities immediately."

"Thank you Jessica-"

I shut off the television. They caught me.

I'd only been caught once before and trying to escape wasn't pretty.

I've been here in Florida for months now. The ship was supposed to arrive two days ago, but it hasn't shown up. I stayed along the beaches in the bigger cities to hide my scent from monsters until it came. To my surprise there haven't been that many monster attacks.

I packed all of my belongings into a bag I had cast a spell on to fit everything in. Then I left. I needed to get out of there _Now._

There was a newspaper stand outside the hotel I was staying in. I read the headlines on the front page:

_Teenage Thief Spotted Sunbathing on Miami Beaches! _

There was a picture of me in my bathing suit on the beach.

I walked down the street and saw a patrol officer drive by giving me a death glare through his sunglasses. I freaked out.

I got in a taxi and told the man to take me anywhere south. I asked him to slow when I noticed a cruise ship in the harbor just near the beach I always went to. That wasn't there earlier... was it?

"Maybe that's Luke's ship!" I thought aloud. I scorned myself immediately for being naive. I can't help it. I was here for one reason; him.

**Luke's POV**

"_I cannot believe you let them escape!" _Kronos scolded me in my mind as I stood in front of the golden sarcophagus.

"Yes, I know my lord. Please forgive me." I said with my voice low.

"_Forgiving you should be out of the question! I wanted you to _kill_ Percy Jackson, not play with him!" _He sighed_, "No matter. Our plan will work anyways. Next time I will not show as much mercy on you. Be gone!"_

I took a deep breath and started out of the room. Percy Jackson, the most idiotic half-blood in the world, had fought me for the golden fleece. I knew it was a risk, but I would have beaten him anyway! If it weren't for those stupid centaurs-

In mid-thought I crashed into some lady.

"Watch where you're going." I told the lady, thinking she was one of the tourists on the ship, "All passengers were evacuated a half hour ago. What are you still doing here?"

She looked up at me in shock. She didn't seem to be under the spell that was cast on all the others. That was wierd. It wasn't supposed to wear off for a few more days.

She stood there not saying a word. She was pretty. She had on a sundress, sunglasses, and gladiator sandals that went to her knees: like the ones we use for battle. In fact they were _a lot_ like the ones we use for battle…

"A-are you Luke Castellan?" She asked me with her head cocked and her eyes wide.

"Yes that's my name,"

"Are you- twenty years old?"

I frowned "Um, yeah. Do I know you?"

"Did you have a girlfriend named Alexandria? Alexandria Montgomery?"

"Yeah but how-"

She took off her sunglasses "You were my Ἥρων… ὁ … Ἀλεξανδρεύς."

I looked into her deep blue eyes, "Adria?"

Her face brightened, "Luke!" She hugged me.

"It's you? It's really you!" I said shocked. I hugged her close to me, remembering how good it felt to hold someone in my arms.

"I thought I'd never see you again!" She said with her face pressed to me chest. "You've gotten so much taller! And you cut your hair!"

"You like it?" I laughed. Tears swelled in my eyes.

"Of course! It looks nice on you!" We stood there for what seemed like forever. It felt like never before.

"How are you still alive?" I asked.

"I... don't know. What happened? Why did I wake up in a junkyard?" Her eyes narrowed as she focused on my face. She gasped, "What happened to you?" Her fingers traced the scar that ran down the left side of my face. A chill went through my entire body.

"That's what happened when you died." I said.

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I told her the entire story: the dragon, Daedalus, everything. Half-way through she started crying, so I took her to my room. We stayed up for a long time catching up and we fell asleep together just like we used to at camp.

When I woke up she was still in my arms. All night I had told myself that this couldn't be real; that I must have been dreaming or something, and yet there she was.

I wished I could stay. I wished I could stay with her forever to just here her breath. But I knew I couldn't. I had to report to Kronos first thing in the morning every morning.

I pecked her on the cheek, dressed, and left reluctantly.

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**I write the character Luke and he's depressing even me! I don't own him but I wish I did xD**

**Lets try for 3 reviews this time!**


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